The Rise and Fall of a Bee

 

BeeIt’s dark. Sticky. Air thick with damp sweetness. My body vibrates to free a pair of stiff, wet things on my back. Lifting, drying, beating, whizzing. Wings!

Off I go. Hunger. Light! Wind! Brightness! Zing! Zoom! Ha ha! Whee!

Hunger. A taste in the air. A wafting sugary mix of color and scent. Lavendar, pink, yellow, magenta explosion of sensations for my kaleidoscope eyes. So many flavors, how do I choose?

I land on a fragrant yellow pillow. Mmm. Step step step giggle, look at my funny black legs, now wearing yellow socks!

Zzzip, off I go. Whiz, whirl, dizzy silly fun! Pink! Ooh pink next! Step step step, look at my legs now! And look at the pink pillow, covered with my little yellow footprints. Pollination! Oh so very important am I!

Pungent. Powerful. What is that intoxicating smell? I go down down down into the forest of green blades. A red apple on the ground, squishy soft and oozing. Taste taste taste. Feast feast feast. Oh dear. Fermented. My head is light. I try to fly but I reel. Drunken me. Buzz buzz buzz, I can only lay on the brown earth, humming and batting my wings in a stupor.

Fresh air, a light gust of wind. My head is clearing. Phew. I feel better. I can smell the colors again. I am hungry. I am me again. I shake my body, tremble my wings. I am ready to fly. But a great shadow blocks the light. All is darkness. I hear a voice. A giant! A human child. I am trapped under her foot!

Wiggle wiggle. I feel the pressure. I am being pushed into the earth! Squiggle squiggle. The child, tall as a bush, and me so small. But I have a weapon! I arch my back and raise my poison sword. I stab to save my life. Sting sting sting!

Loud scream. Shouts and cries. Another human approaches. Quickly I tremble my wings. Zip! Zoom!

Dodge, evade, what is this? A hand, batting me! Shouting, more hands, swatting, flailing.

Dive, twirl, POW!

I am struck. I fall. Down, down into the grass forest. I land on a soft leaf. I am oozing, like the apple. I tremble my wings but they cannot lift me. The leaf is fragrant. Sweet smelling. All is dark. Thick, sweet and dark, like my birth. I am important. I am important. I am important. If only I had more time…

The yellow footprints in the pink grow a lovely apple, and a child is fed.

9 thoughts on “The Rise and Fall of a Bee”

  1. You amaze me with your ability to transport yourself into the highs and lows of the experience and life of this bee. Such a wonderful gift! I have to read it again. I am so concerned about the bees, too. When I swim and find little bees floating on the surface of the pool, I transfer each one to a leaf and bring it out of the pool onto the rim. Sometimes they dry out and fly again. I always pray for them!

    I cried last summer when the landscapers in this complex took down two-thirds of the beautiful, tall trees here. We used to have wonderful singing birds of so many species and we had butterflies everywhere. I almost never hear a bird singing now. Simultaneously, some mealy bug infestation took out all our hibiscus trees that used to attract hummingbirds. Sad not to have those hummingbirds visiting us anymore. The management of our condominiums thought because of the drought, we shouldn’t be watering so many trees. Now we have had more rainfall in January and February of 2017 than we had in all of 2017. God was taking care of things, but some people lost faith beforehand. Too bad about that. Let’s keep the faith for our bees!

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    • Thank you so much Elizabeth, you are so lovely, inside and out! Here’s to the bees! And I hope all your birds and butterflies come back soon! xoxoxo

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  2. Beautiful Poem. We still miss the desert and all of our friends ,we left behind.. We miss your singing and just seeing you. Love, Harold and Sheryl

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