A chat with the wild ones

As you all know I don’t
Walk very far
But I started talking
To the creatures that are
Resident outside in my garden
Where
They all seem to be
and none of them care
About whether I walk far
Or how old I be
They give me respect
By answering me

So I read my poems to them
Everyday
Sit on the old bench
And just read away
Hello Mr Bee in tHe rosemary flowers
Collecting the honey
For so many hours
Where do you come from
Do you fly far
With your extra large body
And small wings
You are
Aerodynamically Not all that hot
You are right MR REX
There isn’t a lot
Of humans who notice
That factor of life
Us Bees find it hard
And it causes us strife
So to talk to a Druid
Whose willing to share
His words of wisdom
For us that is rare
It’s true we have tiny wings
And our body’s not small
If it rains we stay in
And cold as a rule
Flying we have to
Eat food that’s extreme
For our wings have to buzz
Or we run out of steam
It’s so much of a struggle
Cooperatively
To work for the hive
So diligently
when agaricides threaten
EMF too
All sorts of sprays
What some of you do
3 g and 4 g And 5 g
It’s hard
And then you take our honey
So Mr Bard
Why do you humans think honey for bees
Is honey for humans
Can you tell me please?
We don’t look like you do we
So how can it be
With much a shorter life spans
You think you are me

I tried to explain to him
I don’t eat honey
But he told me there’s jars of it
Set thick and runny
Heated and shaken
And ruined, and that he
And his friends they are sicker
For the sugar that be
Exchanged for the honey
The white refined stuff
That is awful to taste
And why they all feel rough

Why it’s harder and harder
To make all this honey
For humans to ruin
Just to make money
I said I agreed
Arrogance rules
The public alas
Many are fools
They don’t know the science
And others don’t care
As long as it’s cheap
And there’s plenty to spare

He said don’t you know
About HMF
I said yes I do
But the public are being conned
Sadly it’s true
So the quality they buy
Is really quite low
It’s no better than jam
But they just do not know

His baskets were full
just from my garden and he
Said he’d have to go home
Perhaps he would see
Me tomorrow his sadness
It was very clear
I bade him farewell
Wiping a tear

Today my old cherry tree
Burst into flower
Still sporting some of last years
Leaves was that power
I said to the tree
Why do your keep hold
Of most of your leaves
When it gets freezing cold

When the winds come
You battle to hold them in place
Why do you do that
Why can’t you face
Losing them letting them
Fall to the ground
And act as a compost
Like others around

Well Mr Druid you see
I am small
Of stature so stocky
But not very tall
It’s called marcescent
We cling to our leaves
When new growth arrives
and what this achieves
Is a good stock of nutrients
So when In SPRING
our blossoms arrive
And we flourish and sing

In lockdown or house arrest
Talking to friends
Who come and sit by me
It actually lends
Joyfulness
Every day
When the sun’s out
I don’t have to distance myself
In no doubt
Friends all around me
Teaching me things
And what I can do is
To Share if it brings
Light hearted knowledge
From the creatures around
Outside my house
That now do abound

You will have to tell me
And I will share their knowledge
From time to time