Wednesday, March 21, 2012

with tattered black wings


with tattered black wings
a carpenter bee slowly 
circles a low green leaf

While pulling out dead stalks from the bed by our front door, I spot a carpenter bee on a silver dollar leaf close to the ground. The fuzzy golden vest above the metallic black body shows that it's a docile, stingless male. When I stoop to take a closeup, he just continues walking slowly in circles around the leaf. 
          This bee's ancestors have done a lot of damage to our house by boring holes in the cedar boards. They're so loud you can actually hear them gnawing away at the wood, and they leave little piles of sawdust beneath their work sites. I've spent quite a few hours high up on a ladder patching the holes. However, this particular bee's shiny black wings are so tattered, I think his flying days may be over, so I leave him to his solitary earthbound journey.

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