Some Little Thoughts

I killed a bee,
Without a second thought.
I perceived, wrongly, that the bee
Was about to attack me,
So I swatted it; and, thus, brought
An end to this insect’s life.
Its body was flattened,
Sprayed out on my fleshy arm
Where my heavy hand had crushed it,
Stopping the bee from doing me any harm. 

If I lived in a land
Where only ogres ran,
Some as tall as Everest’s highest peak,
Would I enjoy a giant’s swatting hand,
In similar fashion to my dead hymenopteran?
That life I took,
That bee I crushed,
That inconsiderate act
That I shall always regret
When my hand came down … and SPLAT! 

That dead bee foraged to feed its hive,
 Without a second thought.
It flew hither and thither,
With a buzz and a whirrrrr,
Seeking out scents of the flowers it sought.
From blossom to blossom, from bough to bough
It flew. And, then, here come I,
More deadly than the sharpest knife,
To snuff out its existence.
What tragedy! I admit it: I, alone, took that life. 

In this world, there is no magic balm
To revive a life, or cancel a single spoken word or line.
The bee, whose life that I did take,
Wanted to do me no harm,
But I killed it, even so, while contemplating a new rhyme,
Without a second thought,
For no sound reason
Other than I, being out of step and time
With the insect world,
Whose contribution is no less than mine. 

Is this the true nature
Of noble man,
Who knows not what he ought?
In a world of balance, every creature
Is part of a master plan.
What is not fully known
Need not create dreads and fears,
But better understanding can cause us
To live at harmony: You … me … every child,
… And for all the millennia of years.