Silent Spring

Mad as bees we buzz in our excitement

While dogs bark with the fury of geese
But it is quiet in the fields in May
The terranean world is motionless
Though ants still move like dissidents
Milling secretly under the damping earth
With the precision of centurions
But where are the honey gatherers now
This rattle and hum in hedgerow and border
The yellow and black buzzing animation
And still the rain comes down chattering
Watery wings beating upon us like prophecy
And into this we weigh sense against chaos
Only to find all are now driven mad in loss
Like the ants milling in precision in the dark
For none are ever made saner by folly
And the bees they are less than they were
And in turn we are made the lesser also
For a world without bees is no world at all
And the silent spring arrives late and inaudibly