Nigel Hallworth

HONEY BEES - On a Warm Summer’s Day.

There’s the flower-fuelled hum of a hundred honey bees

Golden grains of pollen on their furry little knees

Round the pastel petals of the winding Sweet Peas

Busily buzzing busybodies, these !

Relentless automatons, tireless collectors

Gladly, gleefully, gobbling up nectar

Working through the heat of sultry Summer days

Dancing round the blooms in the hot heat haze

Flowers in the meadows, blossoms on the trees

In summertime the honey bees cannot take their ease

Then in Autumn there are sugars in the fallen fruits

But - the wasps eat all of these

And in winter, who cares if the honey bees freeze?

But in summer humble hives are the honey bees’ home

And they lay sticky nectar in the cells of the comb;

That turns into honey for our tea-time delectation

Spread on top of butter on a nice slice of toast

Perhaps it’s worth a moment of considered reflectation ….

That the glutinous completeness

Of that blissful summer sweetness

Is the honeybees’

Regurgitation….