Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Where Have They Gone?

Midsummer is sojourning here full of admirable color and heat.
The soil is baked to ashen dust, yet a powerful storm is on the way.
Some flowers do not fade in the heat of the blinding sun.
Some flowers stand tall and strong against the winds.
These are the few that I can photograph with consideration and patience.



Others blossoms are flighty and easily swayed
Having no firm convictions about place
While dropping petals with the smallest breeze.

The birds still sing, but with less energy and compulsion.
Their reward for abandoned love-making
Is endless food shopping and delivery.

As I pause resting on the edge of a stone
I hear a gentle repeated tapping/scratching just beyond my ear
And turn to see the fading sunflower leaf.
Ants harvesting seeds that have fallen caught on the raspy hairs,
Sunflower seed hearts so small from such a tall plant.


I see Mr. Bumble walking on his bed of nails
Extracting nectar from the crown of echinacea.
But where are the honey bees?


I see a fritillary drinking deeply from
A long purple flacon, all alone.
Where are all the butterflies?


It is always the little signs like these at the first, isn't it?
Such little signs.





13 comments:

  1. No butterflies, no honey bees in my garden either.

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  2. fritillary...that is a new word on my....she is beautiful now isnt she...ha...lots of life to see out there if you are willing to look...

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  3. You write very descriptive poetry/ It also makes one stop and think about our world and how it works.

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  4. no bees here. well, some, I do see one or two, but no bees, no butterflies except the solitary one. cornfields and cotton fields around us but I don't know what kind. crop duster only comes when it's cotton. I've been thinking about getting a hive of bees, not to collect honey but just to have bees around. a bigger percentage of ears of the hybrid corn I bought this year had obvious signs of incomplete pollination, whole areas where no kernels developed.

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  5. I have bees! And butterflies! And unmolested flowers!

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  6. Anonymous6:02 AM

    I'm always amazed by those flowers that withstand the heat. I haven't noticed as many butterflies or bees, but I'm having to walk before the sun is fully up and everything is still asleep.

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  7. We had bees when the clover was in flower. Now we have wasps looking to build in the eaves, out of the sun.

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  8. I'm having the same issue. My pumpkins, melons, squash and cucumbers have all dried up. No bees to pollinate the flowers. A few cucumber plants left so I've planted some bee balm and butterfly mist right in the middle of them. Hoping to draw some to my corner of the yard.

    No bees - proverbially the dead canary in the coal mine?

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  9. You're right, we also didn't have anything like we were used to. Beautiful photos Tabor.

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  10. Enjoyed this post and will join in that my garden and nature surrounding this cottage does not
    seem the same as in the past...

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  11. Beautiful, beautiful!

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  12. and by the time the big signs are noticed, it's too late...

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  13. They know the weather has changed and a storm is coming. Hope you are all battened down. :)

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.