High off of the ground I could see them <br />On the old oak tree trunk cavity <br />The wild honey bees they were buzzing <br />Absorbed in their honey making activity. <br /> <br />The nectar gathering bees they were busy <br />Making honey whilst the sun shone <br />They did not venture out in wet weather <br />They stayed in till the rain had gone. <br /> <br />Perhaps they were apiary escapees <br />Who swarmed off with a younger queen <br />I was a young lad of just seven <br />And they were the first wild bees I had ever seen. <br /> <br />Whilst the sun shone all through the Summer <br />From their hive they buzzed to and fro <br />Gathering nectar from the nearby gardens <br />Or the wildflowers by the old hedgerow. <br /> <br />From late Fall on they were not seen out <br />Honey bees do not live to be old <br />The worker bees do quickly die off <br />They do not survive in weather wet and cold. <br /> <br />It has been more than fifty years I remember <br />Since I first saw wild honey bees <br />Buzzing around their hive in the oak tree cavity <br />In the morning sunshine and breeze.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wild-honey-bees/
