Before the Bees Disappeared

Before the Bees Disappeared…

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live."
~Albert Einstein

Before the bees disappeared
Your heart (my dear) was a honeycomb-
Sticky with sweat from their furr-bristled bodies.
(My ear to your breast) you echoed off steps
They built through the tunnels where I lost myself.

At dusk your drones flew to me and rested
Their fumbling antennae on my mouth and eyes:
A sea of soft limbs swarmed delicate and weightless
Across my naked epidermis.

You rippled each wing with a whisper
Scattering honey-dust through the air we breathed.

My blood became sweet.

And so your buzz-drunken workers
Returned to you
Drenched in the nectar of my soul.

I was yours to keep then sweetheart.
There, in your slow-beating hive.
Remember the jars we filled together,
Before the bees disappeared from the earth.