Night Clerk at the Hotel of Both Worlds

Bee

27 Bee A bee outside the window seems to fly Through a series of aborted falls. We try this, we try that. The male cardinal is eating from the feeder, while the female Searches the ground. It’s a morning of persistent hammering Followed by general brightness. One red towel is draped Over a porch rail. A signal? Sometimes we notice, sometimes we display. Sometimes we’re afraid to do either. In Kipling’s Captains Courageous, Harvey is almost weeping. The cook has dropped the potatoes And held out his hands For the fiddle. No one will hand him the instrument. ...