Wings of Another Kind

[indar]

Wings of Another Kind

Fiona found a bumblebee
in her garden.
Bees sure grow big in Scotland:
this one, almost the size
of a country mouse,
striped black and yellow,
crept the ground
because she had no wings,
poor thing.

Fiona took her in,
named her Bea,
built a flower-box buffet
of tasty blossoms.

Bea and Fiona became friends:
when Fiona held her hand out
Bea walked in;
and crooned a happy bee song;
rode Fiona's nose in the kitchen.

A bee psychologist--
I swear, that's what aol said--
declared the bond
between the two will change the way
we think of the relationship
between bees and people.

Fiona, like many others,
guessed there is more
to the life-force than can be explained
by scientific observation.
I'll bet Jane Goodall 
knew that all along.

https://www.lostateminor.com/2018/04/03 ... ving-life/

[Colm Roe]

What a lovely poem, and story.
My predilection for helpless creatures can be quite time-consuming. My (wet) workbench is a favourite haunt for woodlice; not the prettiest crustacean. (And I read they taste like strong urine WTF?) The way they look and move, like they are burdened with all the problems of the world, makes me extra sympathetic towards them. So I spend time making sure none are on the bench when I place or move pieces of stone. I have to be careful removing them, all those little brittle legs; it's a case of using two very thin pieces of paper, one to nudge, the other to extricate to safer place. And as for stupid earthworms attempting to cross concrete paths on warm dry days...they have to be saved as well. 
Maybe I'm becoming more eccentric as I get older, I'm sure people look at me and think I'm strange; but they've helped me come to an understanding about whether there is a God or not. I won't tell you what I think. But look at it this way. If you were to design a world from scratch would you create a predator/prey environment? Or would you create a vegan world?
Anywho, a heartwarming and charming poem Linda   
  

[indar]

Colm asked:
If you were to design a world from scratch would you create a predator/prey environment? Or would you create a vegan world?

https://www.amazon.com/Woodlice-Creepy- ... s=woodlice

Had to look them up--I have never heard the term. I think we called them armored beetles in my neck of the woods.
One of the many many questions people struggle with. Of course the answer is simple---vegan. Western religion has split good and evil but many cultures believe in creator/destroyer gods as a whole and  acceptable cycle of life. You and I probably agree that explanation leaves something to be desired. Thanks for the read, the comments and your articular outlook Colm, not eccentric---think of the whole Hindu sect called Jainism

[Colm Roe]

Many years ago I watched a documentary about monks who didn't wear clothes because insects could get trapped and squished, and gently swept the ground as they walked in case they stepped on any living thing...I've just discovered (thanks to you) that they were Jainist monks. 

Digambara, (Sanskrit: “Sky-clad,” i.e., naked) one of the two principal sects of the Indian religion Jainism, whose male ascetics shun all property and wear no clothes. In accordance with their practice of nonviolence, the monks also use a peacock-feather duster to clear their path of insects to avoid trampling them. They drink water from a gourd, and they beg for their food and eat only once a day. The ascetics of the other sect, the Shvetambara (“White-robed”), wear white robes. Ascetics of neither sect bathe because personal cleanliness is a feature of the world they have abandoned and because they believe that bathing would destroy organisms living in the water.

I love their translations for being naked...sky-clad and atmosphere-clad...there's a poem there 
You have to admire them and their principals. But their physical lives must be so difficult...just imagine if they had fleas;
they couldn't try to wash them off, and worse still they couldn't scratch that itch 
 

 

[lshmael]

Hello indar, I think your poem is very charming. It is a lovely mix of silliness and deep compassion.

built a flower-box buffet
of tasty blossoms.

I quite enjoy these two lines.

It was nice to read the article at the end and realize it was a true story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[indar]

Ishmael wrote:
It is a lovely mix of silliness and deep compassion.

Thank you Ishmael,

I think you hit exactly on the points I was trying to convey in this one. Being able to be drawn in by a story about a woman and a bumblebee (love that word) is evidence of the better side of being human. Thanks for the read and kind comments.

[Tracy Mitchell]

Indar - another winner.

How endearing your tale.  You make Fiona and Bea loveable from the outset.  “Out” and “in” in Stanza 3 are wonderful.  I love the directness of this.  Child-like, upbeat, but oh so genuine and serious in its own way.

Stanza #1 is so fun to read - my tongue loves the bubbling sounds.

Not sure about “tasty” in S.2 - the sound and rhythm are good, but something about the sense. How about “nectarous”?  Just asking.

S.4 – AOL - capitalize it.

S.4 L.5 – “we think of . . .” >> we understand ? 

S.5 – I like the reference to Jane Goodall, but the substance of the stanza strikes me as too explanatory – the narrator is telling us, in lecture form, what has just been so wonderfully shown.  It tends to deflate the wonderful effect of the preceding poetry.  

Just my view.  Love the poem, thanks for posting.

T

[indar]

.I like the reference to Jane Goodall, but the substance of the stanza strikes me as too explanatory – the narrator is telling us, in lecture form, what has just been so wonderfully shown

LOL--you've nailed my tendency to over-explain everything---drives my family nuts. I do want to keep the Jane Goodall reference. Maybe I can just tack it onto the previous stanza. 

Think of vs. understand----hmmm, I wonder if we understand anything sometimes but yours is a better sounding word. 

Thank you Tracy for your, as always, thoughtful comments.

[Tracy Mitchell]

I forgot to say, that's a killer first line. 

[indar]

Thanks---I am so happy her name really is Fiona and I may have to write more bumblebee poems---isn't it a great word?