Bees

photograph by Julie Elliot

The Accompaniment of Bees
In Three Parts
by Ailsa Flynne

1. Discernment

Who can say how the bee

     chooses

which flower to embrace

all that gentle touching

and delicious whispered buzzing

shivering in conversation with 

     blossom

     after blossom

until the moment of knowing

This one!  Right here!  Right now!

as the bee slows

     into stilled silence

and surrenders to the mystery

of fully encountering

this one

     single

          bloom

2. Presence

Did the bees know yesterday

that the rain was coming?

Is that why they were

     busy

at their work

before the sun had warmed blossoms

into scentedness

and why they were still

     buzzing

long after I told them

that I thought

they should be in bed?

The rain has clarified

the insistent gentle nudging

of softly closed buds

into a simple reminder:

I am here 

     if you are

     ready to open

I am here

3. Patience

Even bees get

     impatient

striving to open buds that are not

     quite

          ripe

          for unfolding

returning again

and again

to the same reluctant bloom

tugging at an opening

that is not yet ready

     to exist

when all around

so many other blossoms

are flowering into possibility

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Ailsa Flynne 

writes as a way to explore thresholds and engage deeply with the mystery on her journey with Life. As a full-time householder and public servant, Ailsa credits spiritual direction, her completion of the Pacific Jubilee SoulGuiding program, and 12 years of "Be Still and Know" silent retreats, with her deepening understanding of what it means to be fully present to herself and to others. She is currently leaning into the word Balance and practicing letting go and falling into the currents of aliveness outside of silent retreats.

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