(an interpretation of the Human Bee by Carol Ann Duffy)
This world is not the same.
The yellow-black sounds have been warped,
replaced with a silence so profound and tame,
replaced with white noise.
My ears are ringing,
the scents of bloom and honey:
overpowered by
the church bells singing,
ascending down until doom,
until all we have is
a broom and money.
A broom to sweep
the ashes of our sins,
money to pay off
the irrevocable damage
that we’ve caused,
for bees do not fly any longer,
and honey will not make us stronger.*
*a reference to a Swedish cartoon: Bamse – the World’s Strongest Bear, who “is a brown bear who becomes the world’s strongest bear by eating a type of honey called ‘Dunderhonung’ (translation. ‘thunder-honey’), specially prepared for him by his grandmother.” (Wikipedia 2023)
