Remember:
the queen is the main-
spring of the hive.
She is a very delicate
piece of mechanism.
(It is very risky
to bend
her or to
bounce
her.)
Some folk seem to think
queen bees are like
opportunities
and nettles and ferrets–
to be grasped with a heavy hand.
A queen is as fragile
as a wren’s egg.
From H. J. Wadey, The Bee Craftsman: A short guide to the life-story and management of the honey bee (A. G. Smith, 1947), p 47. Some punctuation has been changed. Submitted by Rebecca Resinski.
Verbatim Poetry 