Feeding Bees.

Feeding Bees

"Like a swarm of bees
which one moment enflower
themselves and the next
return to where their work
acquires savor."

(Si come schiera d'ape che s'infiora
una fiata e una si ritorna
la dove suo laboro.)
    Dante, The Paradiso

It found a clover,
climbed its stem,
fixed its mouth upon
it and sucked it dry.
It slid down the stem,
moved on, heavy with
nectar and pollen. I
sat upon a bench
and saw it reach
a stretch of grass
where no clover grew.
I gathered clover from
another place and set
it down about it. It
moved on,
its wings in small
ascensions of desire
and flew to its
captive hexagon,
in the city of golden
thunder and burned therein
in a lavender rain
flashing with the savor
of oils of clover.