Bee Aware – A poem for Devarim

And the Amorites, dwelling in that mountain, came out
towards you and pursued you as bees do
– Deuteronomy 1:44

Everyone I know has been stung by a bee
at one point or another. Not you yet?
This is not meant to be prophecy.

When a bee pursues you, you don’t realize it
until it’s already happened. Until its stinger
has penetrated your skin.

Could this have been avoided?
Probably not. We’re rarely aware when
we’ve intruded on its territory or

have been perceived as a threat.
The stinging, the first indication that
anything was wrong.

It is the immediate hours following
as our lip swells (In my case it was
my lip. What can I learn from this since

this is where all my words come from?)
that we learn the consequences of our
intrusion. Did we even need the honey?

A group of ancient Israelites were
pursued like bees. They didn’t heed
the warning which, had they done so,

would have prevented a brutal stinging.
If your goal is to cross the river
better to not go after the bees.

We need them more than you know.
Moving from flower to flower
they make everything happen.

Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 25 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express” (Poems written in Japan – Ain’t Got No Press, August 2020) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.