Bee Wise

the honey bee is sad and cross
and wicked as a weasel
and when she perches on you boss
she leaves a little measle
    — Don Marquis, from certain maxims of archy



boss i think you have got your t s crossed wrong
on this one your garden variety
honey bee is a born optimist
even though she and her hundred or so thousand
sisters live like nuns they get sunshine and blossoms
galore and dance a mad dance of plenty

but your queen bees
have an imperious manner
and a fast and furious way with virginal pretenders
to their own estate but queens
mostly drowse and dream in realms of private fantasy
requiring pheromones but no brains

no the only bees
that get much fun at all are drones like rufus
a flash lothario i met once drunk as mephistopheles on
too much maraschino juice

he was a rollicky fellow whose tune
went bzz bzz bzz bbzzz bzz bz bzz bzz actually
it was about sex but this being ha ha a family newspaper
i could hardly report the true pinks and blushes of
rufus s bawdy if drunken arias

i must say he understands the ecstasy of expiring
in a pang of matrimony on the maiden flight of
a virgin queen pursued by a horde of her best
buzzing sex fiends

but i don't think he knows the tectonic details
or much cares
about what happens to drones when the frosts arrive hither
arch quoth he am i not a glorious fool
question mark

there can be only one hero but an
hundred failures in a chorus of unrequited fey moods
hum along and weep
in lascivious liqueurs a la maraschino
live large archy me lad
live large
rufus
well it s winter now so was
a philosophical bug
a lot like mehitabel dreaming romantic
truths without consequences

now that i ve set you wise to bees
would you mind leaving the lid off the honey jar
for a day or two question mark

        archy