Honey bee on dwarf tangerine bulbine (Bulbine frutescens) in the UC Davis Arborteum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) In Appreciation of the Bee
While enjoying a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream and reading the Häagen-Dazs educational Web site, www.helpthehoneybees.com, Michele Krueger, a poet from Lake County, Northern California, was inspired to write a poem about honey bees. Krueger, who works with California Poets in Schools, donated the poem to the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Appreciation
Be the best you can be,
Honeybee.
For me.
Please pollinate
my berries,
sip nectar from
my flowers,
so you will have
the strength to fly
back and forth
for hours.
You have work to do,
Worker Bee,
for fruit tree
and for me.
Servant of Queen,
Feeder of Drone,
Soldier of Hive,
Miner of Gold,
I award you
Employee of the Season.
Honey is my reason.
(Copyright, Michele Krueger, Lake County, Calif.)