Joseph, an elegy

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Day Three

 

Bees

Several measures past,
it is the scent of honey
that brings to faded memory
a focus of silver boxes precisely
nestled between horse meadow and
reaching stalks of wheat.

A golden sweet perfume
decanted, quite foreign
to plastic bears, onto silver
spoon recollects twinkling blue eyes
keen in knowledge of his cache.

My grandfather was a beekeeper.
I, a granddaughter of bees.

 

Author’s Note:

Today’s prompt from NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo:

“And now for our (optional) prompt! Today I’d like to challenge you to write an elegy – a poem that mourns or honors someone dead or something gone by. And I’d like to ask you to center the elegy on an unusual fact about the person or thing being mourned. For example, if you are writing an elegy about your grandfather, perhaps the poem could be centered around a signature phrase of his. (My own grandfather used to justify whatever he was doing by saying, “well, I can’t sing or dance, and it’s too wet to plow,” which baffled me considerably as a child). Or perhaps your Aunt Lily always unconsciously whistled between her teeth while engaged in her daily battle with the crossword puzzle. These types of details paradoxically breathe life into an elegy, making the mourned person real for the reader.”

Bee

There is a beekeeper in me.DSCN0991
I wallow in time with
ebony and aureate sprites.

Begins a distant murmur,
then a brazen flirtation
as I ransack first fruits from
stems bent in honor of
summer’s engagement.

I have no reason to fear,
in holy union I still myself,
wings brush by, alight,
then return to job at hand.

I fall victim of honeyed wax
rich with sweetness,
almost unbearable
under harvest sun,
citrine nectar drips
through my wanton fingers.

I am a beekeeper’s
granddaughter, bold in my
passion for garden, bee,
and Keeper, all oned
in awe of bounty exuberant.