The Bees came by my windows

A swarm.

I caught the last two lines of their anthem.

Bitter is life without the ingredient

A recipe for tears only

They sang, their voices sharpened my window panes

One Bee per person,

One life to thrive in

I am listening for a cue to come in falsetto

bass, alto

not Soprano, not prose, not winsome

Faithful to the song of life.

They buzzed a sound like ocean waves

like terrible tornadoes

Rumbling;

The panes expand, bulge and threaten

Bitter, bitter life

The last two lines of the song

We can save you

We have balm

One Bee per person.

Follow us to the nectar or

Process to the grave, the pyre is lit and gleams towards Hades.

The Bees, they know the name of the ingredient

It’s love like nectar

I caught the first two lines of the anthem

They sang it twice

Love your neighbor/love God.

The neighbor heard eighteen months

He weeps, and keeps weeping

The lady across the way heard six months

She slammed her door shut fast

I knock, knock, knocking

She is angry and afraid.

The Bees,

My last great hope they know the Song of Songs,

Lines three and four, for the sake of the soul!!

Entreaties

Just sip

A taste

One Bee per person

One life to laugh

The sting of life is fatal

Drink your ambrosia and sleep in sweetness

Unbroken in love.