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The ultimate disappearance of honeybees and honey was imagined several years ago in a poem by Irish poet Matthew Sweeney, published at first in The Times (London), July 13, 2001, and available on-line from them. It imagines a sad future when honey will be replaced by pseudo-honey.
A Dream of Honey
by Matthew Sweeney
I dreamed that bees were extinct,
had been for decades, and honey
was a fabled memory, except for jars
hoarded by ancient, wealthy gourmets.
Honey was still on the shelves, of course -
that's what they'd named the sweet concoction
chemists had arrived at, and it sold well,
not just to those who knew no better,
and the day was coming fast when no one
alive would be able to taste the difference.
Then one Friday morning in Riga
a peasant woman arrived by horse and cart
at the old Zeppelin Hangars market
and set up her stall with jars of honey
flavoured by the various flowers. Around her
sellers of the new honey gawped, then sniffed
as she screwed the lids off, then glared
as her jars were snapped up in minutes,
and she climbed on her cart again
and let the horse take her away.
In the dream, e-mails sped everywhere
about this resurrection of honey,
and supermarket-suppliers scoured Latvia,
knocking on every door, sending helicopters
low over houses, looking for beehives,
but after a month they gave it up,
and the woman never appeared again
though rumours of her honey-selling
came over the border from Russia
and continued beyond the dream
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Baker
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 3:49 PM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Honey Bees
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
this is happening all over north america. i have been talking to farmers here in southern california, and they either have no idea what is happening, or suspect some kind of virus. i have read that there is a japanese mite that is spreading across the continent, and it's either the mite that is killing the bees, or a virus on the mite that is killing the bees.
there are travelling bee colonies that are being hired to polinate crops, and they
--Boundary_(ID_wZdeWLJyebb7gq/WmIuGYw)
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<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>The ultimate disappearance of honeybees and
honey was imagined several years ago in a poem by Irish poet Matthew Sweeney,
published at first in The Times (London), July 13, 2001, and available on-line
from them. It imagines a sad future when honey will be replaced
by pseudo-honey.</FONT></SPAN><FONT
face=Times><SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times color=#666666></FONT><?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX =
O /><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>A Dream of Honey</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>
by Matthew Sweeney</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>I dreamed that bees were
extinct,</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>had been for decades, and
honey</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>was a fabled memory, except for
jars</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>hoarded by ancient, wealthy
gourmets.</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times> </FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>Honey was still on the shelves, of course
-</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>that's what they'd named the sweet
concoction</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>chemists had arrived at, and it sold
well,</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>not just to those who knew no
better,</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times&