~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Enid Osborn

Telling the Bees

I’ve been sitting on this tree stump since dawn,

waiting for you to speak with your wings.

Dear bees, our beloved breathed his last in the night.

He is washed and dressed and laid in state.

Candles, made half by you, half by Sister,

burn at all hours in the parlor. Already

there is a patina of smoke grease on the mirror,

ghostly prints on counterpane and curtain.

Come, blessed bees, we have need of you—

your parchment wings, laced in verse,

stir and sing the soul of our beloved across.

His true family stands to greet him.

Be strong, my bees! The beautiful ones await!

We shall prepare a feast for your return—

water and sugar—and whisper in the garden

that you may rest ‘til Spring.

We shall rest, too, mend socks, can the late pears,

tell stories by the fire, snore like bears.

One day, the larks will call us back to the world.

A single bee at the yarrow will cry the arrival

of Spring. Our hearts will waken joyous

in the light. We will air the house and white

the walls. His photo will be wiped with a soft cloth

and set upon the mantle, he whom we bury today.

Enid Osborn lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she served as Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. Her book “When the Big Wind Comes” takes place in her native Southeast New Mexico. Her work appears mainly in Central Coast regional and Southwest journals. She co-edited the anthology “A Bird Black as the Sun: California Poets on Crows & Ravens (2011).” In addition to poetry, Enid writes songs and reviews. She is a longtime advocate for organic growing and the preservation of bees.