lament for a lost _uzz (1) and (2)

(1)
I have loved the smell of flowers
the nectar taste of ripened fruit
an apple
a pear
straw_erries with cream

_uttery canola
spread on pumpkin-_read toast
then _reakfast yellow-_ox
or Tasmanian leatherwood honey
dripped slowly
from my knife onto the _read

the mead cakes my grandma _aked
were to swoon for
and vanilla
was the _est ice-cream
served in a cone

where have they gone
these simple _eauties

what has happened
to change the world
to shades of _rown and gray

I wish I’d started a hive
_ack when a little more
might have _een
a lot

(2)

the eucalypt still puts out _lossoms
we chose it for the flowers
and planted it where sun
would highlight the crimson
and we could see it
during morning coffee

and watch the _irds and insects
_usy in their work
and I do see the honey _irds
and flying things
_ut they work silently
where once upon a time
it was a _uzz

and yes
the tree still shows itself
in _lossom
_ut there was less to see last year
and there is less again this year
and I wonder
if next year
will _e quite the same

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© Frank Prem, 2014

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