Bees

They say the bees are dying

That flowers will soon be

Absent when attendance

On Earth is taken

That the red of tomatoes

The buxom purple of eggplants

The indelible stain of boysenberry

Thimbleberry blackberry red rasping berries

Will be gone

All gone

They say the bees are

Hungry lonely sick and

That they no longer dance

We have given them too much of what

They don’t want

Taken away what little they need

As the handmaids of sex

The midwives of ovaries

The acolytes of nectar

Magic dust

Secret errands

Blossoming trysts

Serving pleasure to plants

Fleshy fruits to palates
Bees delight the senses

I will be lonelier without

The bees the berries the flowers all that

Fertility

Like a boy holding a corsage

A tree waits

Petals a riot of silken seduction

Open receptive engorged

Waiting for the lover

Who never comes