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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Pool Bugs and Busy bees

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It’s Autumn here, and the rosemary hedge in my front yard is looking, smelling and sounding divine.

Sounding?  Yup! My hedge is humming with the happy song of hundreds of bees, who love the rosemary as much  as I do, it seems.  It’s a lovely sound.

And with so many flowers to choose from, it’s a bit like a bee buffet, bees bustling from flower to flower, as if they want to sample every one.

 

 

Bee Buffet

 

I can’t decide

where to sit

from table

to table

I buzz and flit.

(Sally Murphy, 2022)

 

I went looking for another poem to go with this one, from my archive.  I was surprised that this seems to be my only other poem with a bee-reference, although I’ve written several about flies, spiders and ants.

 

Pool Bugs

 

The pool is for people

So why do dragonflies

Dip and dive

At the edges

From dawn until dusk?

 

The pool is for people

So why do bees

Buzz and bustle

Near the steps

Busily bumbling?

 

The pool is for people

So why do wasps

Whizz and whir

Scaring little kids

As they wildly wing?

 

The pool is for people

So why don’t the bugs

Just buzz off now?

 

(Sally Murphy, 2014)

 

Not that I necessarily want the bugs to vanish – but it actually makes me sad when I find a bee in my pool, because they often drown. Unless I get there first with my net to rescue them, of course.

I do love autumn and the signs of life that re-emerge after the harsh summer heat. Something else I love is Poetry Friday, where I get to buzz around and see what my fellow poets have bene up to this week. You can hum along, by checking out the roundup, this week hosted by Ruth. 

Comments

  3. What fun–and I’m deeply envious of your rosemary hedge. I love the smell of rosemary, but Minnesota, USA, is not the best home for it ;>) I’m barely keeping one small pot alive inside, and I move it from window to window trying to give it enough sunshine. Those lucky bees and their buffet over with you!

  5. Ooh! I want a rosemary hedge! Happy autumn to you. We are celebrating the moderation of temperatures, too, as spring comes our way.

  6. Love the sense of Autumn captured in your post Sally. The bees are a sign that your garden is extremely healthy. We have a centre strip of flowering thyme in our driveway and the bees, butterflies and squadrons of dragonflies love it. Enjoyed your bee buffet.

    • Thanks for visiting, Alan. yes I love having the bees, and there will soon be native leave-cutter bees, too. They seem to come every autumn and leave distinctive marks on my rose bushes.

  7. A wonderful post. Hooray for autumn! I would really love to smell that rosemary. It’s pretty too. Wave hello to those buzzy bees for me.

    • Thanks Linda. Yes, it is actually prettier than I realised it would be when I planted it. Always glad that past Sally had the idea.

  9. When my garden is in full swing, it is in ‘full buzz’, too, Sally. The rosemary hedge picture looks divine, wishing for a techie smelly sticker! Happy Autumn!

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