being what they are, when the bees go, weep for the birds
how many children,
how many pairs of steady children’s hands,
how many cotton swabs will it take to do the bee’s work,
while the birds whistle dirges
or fall from the sky
honey does not rot, if you keep it free of crumbs and butter
how we’ll hoard it,
how we’ll hold it up to the light,
how we’ll turn the bottles over and over in our hands,
dying with our gleaming cache untasted,
mouths unsweet
while the children do the jobs of the future
Jacquelyn Bengfort is the author of Navy News Service (Ghost City Press, 2018) and an individual artist fellow of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Her website: http://www.jacib.com/