"The Birds and the Bees" by David Pring-Mill

The Birds and the Bees

David Pring-Mill

The beauty is so great that I laugh.

This quiet street of old houses is baked by sun.

As a raving pedestrian I see the yellows,

big yellow and purple and red,

The extravagant claims

of all these flowering plants; Yet I was here

in winter, in autumn’s ash.

Plants and nature were here also,

hiding her beauty. And only now it emerges.

And it’s like a joke, thinking it was there the whole time,

there when I marched by and allowed this idea

that cloudy skies may have impact upon me.

And this is love, this is our love,

The world of loneliness is the same world

as the world of love! When in sorrow,

the joy is there waiting to bloom.

Love is hidden. How could it come out to inspire

when there is no light to inspire its growth and rebirth?

Life was made from the Sun, and as diverse copies

of its luster, we are creators of our own light.

And so I trust in these dynamics.

And I will not shrink

before the world,

and I will not shrink the world

down to a manageable safety.

A red-breasted bird sings

and I wonder how his song came to be, 

if the bird first learned and practiced his music 

because he wanted to create 

something beautiful.

And then,

by conducting a melody 

before love was ever known,

this bird discovered 

beauty attracts more beauty.

This bird discovered 

love is not expectation, but faith.

And faith provides its own realization.

And when this bird accepted his song 

deeply within a feathered heart, when he felt

the fullness of notes escaping

past the sharpness of his beak, 

he also felt a bounce in the branch 

beneath his stars of toes

and saw a new companion at his side.

And do you realize the relationship

between bees and flowers?

Bees enjoy the sweet nectar

and loving what they love makes it more abundant.

They are not laborious, when they are going

from flower to flower in pollination.

They are landing on new petals for fulfillment,

the giving and receiving is unified,

and in this way don’t they show us

the purest kind of love?

In these flowers

and in great love I realize

the fulfillment of simple things,

once buried in sight.

Poet’s Notes:  “The Birds and the Bees” is thematically connected to some of my previous Songs of Eretz publications, namely “Atop the Hill, Where We Laughed Together” http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/03/poem-of-day-atop-hill-where-we-laughed.html, “Love as an Act of Faith” http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/12/love-as-act-of-faith-by-david-pring.html, and “My Only Affection” http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/04/poem-of-day-my-only-affection-by-david.html. These poems all depict an internal transformation that has love as its provocation.

This poem could also be seen as the inversion of “Adulation” http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/12/adulation-by-david-pring-mill-frequent.html. In “Adulation”, the reader witnesses the destructive effects of superficial love: a musical performer succumbs to substance abuse in front of an audience lacking in empathy. In “The Birds and the Bees”, the sincerity of love is restorative and fulfilling.

The narrator’s perspective on the world clearly shifts from seasonal affective disorder to unapologetic awe. There are many poetic angles from which love can be examined, but I’m particularly interested in that intersection between philosophical perspective and romantic feeling. 

Editor’s Note:  This is a masterpiece, perhaps the best I've seen from David.  I particularly enjoy the way the narrative leads the reader to realize that love is always present even when unseen.  The birds and bees conceit is perfectly executed, illustrating examples while creating the larger metaphor that unifies the piece.  

My favorite part of the poem, although it is difficult to pick a favorite part, occurs in the last two lines of the second stanza.  Some may argue that it is cliché to say we are made of star stuff, but then to go on to show how every individual is in effect his or her own star--THAT is really good poetry.