Dora Sigerson Shorter

“ Green of the dawning sky, dear to behold.
“When the lime is in blossom the bees are busy,
Summer has come with her honey-sweet mouth;
The lime is in bloom and the hive it is silent,
Come little bees from the North and the South!
”Gather your store when the red sun is shining,
Gather the harvest so that you may feast,
The hive is nigh empty, the Queen she is weeping,
Come little bees from the West and the East.“
I saw one go in the pale of the dawning,
In a fair May-time a-telling the bees,
Tapping the hive there she told of men dying,
Many a dear name she called to the breeze. ”