Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)
…in the demise of honey bee health…the interaction
between pesticides, diseases and varroa [mites] and the newly
identified Israel acute paralysis virus (IAPV), are likely
contributing factors.
Nothing more definite than that we awoke
the next morning (were we dreaming?) to
the same droning sound, as the bombers flew on,
named with an A, a B or an F, plus a number —
as if the letters
of the sacred alphabet and the Arabic numerals
(so much more efficient for measuring the stars
and the playful motions of matter
than the clumsy Roman numerals, though those
were fine for incising on the foundations) —
as if these signs
were like locusts that, once released from their shells,
spelled only death, the devouring of the grain…
really, we can’t say anything more definite
just now (we must have been dreaming) — for an hour
we were like children again—our hearts
were that high — how we cheered
as if to drown out
the keening, the raven caws, the orphaned
sound of the wind blowing over the ruined walls,
the F-16s going on making their runs,
and drones from the sickened hive…
when the beekeepers arrive to see to their bees
in the spring, the colonies have collapsed,
the dead bees tumble out like pieces from
an old game, the dried comb crumbles
at a touch, no honey left to spill…
while like a wind in the ghostly trees,
in the rutted rows of stumps, the olive grove
(what were we thinking?) cut down, the hum,
growing louder now — dead bees
in the phosphorescent flowers
tossed in an open tomb.
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