Let the wax raise

green statues, let the honey

drip in infinite tongues, let the ocean be a big comb

and the Earth a tunic of flowers, let the World

be a cascade, magnificent hair, unceasing

growth of Beedom.

Pablo Neruda

Listen to the Bee Song

Interpreted by Apibardis and Amore

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Bees, honey and creative expression

The bees and their honey have inspired many poets to create beautiful poems and songs ever since Homo Sapiens began keeping bees and tried sweet honey. Here I would like to show some of them.
I would be glad to receive poems on bees and honey from famous poets around the world for publishing them on this site. Send them to info@bee-hexagon.net

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

Man and woman in an original painting in old Egypt

My honey! These two words are now world famous. These words are as old as the human civilization. Already in the first writen poems in human civilization honey was used as the metaphor of love.

ANCIENT SUMER

Our oldest written records come from the civilization near the river Euphrates, what is now southern Iraq. They were written on clay tablets . In the Songs of Songs, written around 2000 BC honey was used for the first time as the synonym of love by the extatic bride of the king Shu Sin, here are excerpts from the first 5 songs:
Honey my Love

ANCIENT EGYPT

In ancient Egyptian poetry honey was used also as a symbol of love. In the few poems written between 1100 and 2000 BC and transmitted into our times honey is mentioned twice. Read here excerpts of the book Love Songs of the New Kingdom, by John L. Foster, 1992
Honey in Egyptian Love Poetry

ANCIENT CHINA

The book of songs (Shijing), around 1000 BC, the oldest collection of Chinese poetry there is a verse on
My Honey Pie

ANCIENT INDIA

THE VEDAS

In ancient India honey was worshiped in many scriptures. In the Vedas, created 1000-1500 BC we find in the Rig Veda, 1:90:6-8:
Sun Prayer

The DHAMMAPADA

The Dhammapada are the first Buddhist scriptures, written in verse in 3 BC, based on the oral teaching of the Buddha two centuries before that. In Chapter 4 on the Flowers the Buddha teaches
Like the Bee and the Flower

KALIDASA

Later, about 400 AC the poet Kalidasa wrote the play in verses Vikromarvasie (The Hero and the Nymph). There bees and honey are mentioned many times, always in connection with love. Here is an excerpt from act I of the play
Drunken with Honey

ANCIENT GREECE

The ancient Greeks had a highly developped beekeeping and worshiped honey in many poems.

HOMER

Homer is the first Greek poet, he wrote his works aroung 800 BC. In his Hymn to Hermes he writes about the bee priestesses Melissae, here in the translation of Miss Jane Harrison
Apollo speaks

ANACREAONTEIA

Most famous is the poem about Eros and the bees, first attritubuted to Anacreaon 570 BC-488 BC. However, it was found out that it is from the Anacreonteia, written later by other Greek poets.
Eros and the bees

EPIGRAMS
Epigrams are short poems created by the ancient Greeks. The bees and honey have been mentioned about 200 times in different poems, here is a selection of 4 of them.
Bees and Honey in Epigrams

ANCIENT ROME

continued the traditions of the Greeks and developed further beekeeping. The Roman poet Virgil 29 BC, wrote a big poem about the bees in his famous work "The Georgics" translated in verse by the English poet John Dryden
Bees and Honey in the Georgics

Beekeeping in ancient Egypt, image courtesy Kenneth Stein

MORE RECENT HISTORY

THE KALEVALA

The Kalevala epic poem is the national epic of Finland. It originates in early times of the beginning of Finnish history and was transmitted orally for many generations before it was written down in its present form in 1835, see Wiki-Kalevala In this epic Bees and Honey play an major role and the healing virtues of honey are worshiped.
The Healing of Lemminkainen

SU SHI

1037-1101, a famous Chinese Song-dynasty poet and painter, often known as Su Dongpo, wrote
Song of the honey-eating old man

RUMI AND HAFEZ

lived in Persia between 1200 and 1340. Here are some examples of their poems, where honey was mentioned
Honey in the poetry of Hafez and Rumi

VIDYAPATI

1374-1448, is a famous Indian poet. In his love poems he often mentions bees and honey. Here an example of the poem
The Spring

KAMALAKANTA

1769-1821, was a Indian Brahmin priest and in his poems workships often the Brahmin Gods. In a poem on the black bee, he worships the goddess Brahmari Devi
The black bee of my mind is drawn in sheer delight

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

1564-1616, has used the word bee 12 times, and honey 47 times. Most famous is the speech of the Bishop of Canterburry in the play Henry V, Act 1, scene 2
The Speech of the Bishop of Canterburry

BASHO

Matsuo Basho, b. 1694, is considered to be the finest writer of Japanese Haiku. The structure of Haiku reflects the simplicity of meditative life. Here is how he experiences
The Bee

THOMAS MOORE
1779-1852, is a famous Irish poet and songwriter, he wrote
When the first summer bee

EMILY DICKENSON
1830-1886, a famous American poet, mentioned in several of her poems
The Bees

HENRY VAN DYKE

1852-1933, famous American poet and clergyman, wrote a beatiful poem on the bees
The white bees

FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA

1898-1936, a famous Spanish poet, wrote 1918 a beautiful poem about honey, El canto del miel,
tranlsated here into English by the bee scientists David Roubik and Patricia Vit
The song of honey

image courtesy Heinz Koenitzer, Muehlethurnen

ANTONIO MACHADO

1875-1939, is another famous Spanish poet who mentions often bees and honey in his poems, here an exerpt from his poem
Last Night

PABLO NERUDA

1904-1973, Chile, a world famous poet and a Nobel Prize winner, wrote one of the most beatuful poems on bees, Oda a la Abeja here presented in the translation of the bee scientists Patricia Vit and David Roubik
Ode to the bee

FERNANDO PESSOA

1888-1935, a famous Portuguese poet, wrote a poem, "O Guardador de Rebanhos",
translated into English on www.beelore.com
God is the Hive and the Honeybees

KHALIL GIBRAN

1883-1931, is a Lebanese poet who lived mostly in the USA. He wrote 1923 a poem about honey and the bees in his most famous poetical work, The Prophet
On pleasure

ALAN ALEXANDER MILNE
1882-1956, wrote IN 1926 WINNIE THE POOH, about a bear and its adventures with the bees and their honey
Bears like honey

immage cortesy of Bill Porter, www.billporterdesign.com

Links

Just Bee1

Bee Lore

Bee Goddess

The Bee Priestesses and their Music

The Yahoo group on Bee Artistic Expression

Let the wax raise green statues, let the honey drip in infinite tongues, let the ocean be a big comb and the Earth a tunic of flowers, let the World be a cascade, magnificent hair, unceasing growth of Beedom.