I know this isn't a honey bee. It's a wonderful Buff tailed Bumble Bee and there have been so many of them on our flowering quince that the air has just been heavy with constant buzzing and humming over these past few warm days. It has all put me in mind of a great poem by Mary Oliver called 'Hum' :
What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that's all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They're small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them - haven't you? -
stopped in the very cup of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered - so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout - sweet dancing bee.
I think there isn't anything in this world I don't
admire. If there is, I don't know what it is. I
haven't met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It's not hard, it's in fact
as instructive as anything I've ever studied. Plus, too,
it's love too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.
As a PS, I spent most of today either in the garden or working in my shed. On my way in to get a cup of tea about 4.00pm I saw a swallow on our TV aerial. My first sight of one in the garden this year. On April 22nd. The same day they've appeared for the past three out of four years. Have they made it four out of five? I cannot truthfully say as the swallow flew off and I didn't see it enter the old nesting site so who knows? You'll think me fanciful but my heart skipped a beat. The sight of them cheers me so much. I shall be on the look out tomorrow to see if I shall see it again. I hope so. Fingers crossed. Any swallows anywhere else yet?
6 comments:
I totally understand - I feel the same about our swifts - it is so amazing that such a little bird can travel so far and honour us with their presence. Love the poem too. Have you read it to your bees?
Great poem - I do so identify with the sentiments. Love the phrase about the bee nuzzling into the blouse of the rose! Glad your swallows have returned and how do they know what the date is?!!
Enjoy the continuing sunshine.
Jane x
Stunning photo and lovely poem. No swallows yet, quite a few Brimstones and Peacocks but you have beaten me to seeing my first Orange Tip butterfly.
I love to listen to the sound of a bee when it goes inside a foxglove, the way the buzz changes when it gets what it wants........ oh and the big ones that go for the pollen in Hollyhocks, the way they get almost laden down with the rings of pollen...... lovely to observe.
Since you last posted a Mary Oliver poem I have ordered two books from the library - 'Thirst' and 'Owls and Other Fantasies' - should be getting them soon. This poem is lovely 'filling their bodies with sweetness' ....
So glad you saw your swallow Lesley, I hope they stay and nest.
Jeanne
x
PS No honey bees yet but quite a few wonderful bumble-bees. I think you are ahead of us there in the west - things here still seem to be hanging back but a few more days of this lovely sun and warmth should work its magic!
I stopped by your blog today. What beautiful springtime pictures.
Ann
Ann Summerville
Cozy In Texas
Just read your last two posts -- both of them so lovely. Now I am even more interested to see more of your artwork. The wood print blocks (plates?) are beautiful!
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