"The way bees on a drowsy day..."

Spotted in Science Musings:

(with thanks to a friend for finding it)

The phrase is from a poem titled "The Kiss," in which the poet recounts a very special osculation, during which "her lips on mine traced a design to show the way bees on a drowsy day..." Some kiss. Some poem.

Why did the phrase stick in my mind? Well, for one thing, the words are individually gorgeous. Suck is an Old English word, with an ancient Latin root. Each breath we take, each drop of mother's milk, is sucked from the world.

Fuchsia found its name more recently; it commemorates the 17th-century German botanist Leonhard Fuchs. In moving from botanist to plant, the word softened, became redolent with fragrance, got juicier. Along our lane in Ireland fuchsia runs wildly rampant.

And honey. There is probably no English word that evokes more succulent imagery: golden, pure, sweet. Honeycombs spilling their luscious liquid. Oozy sensuality.

Add "bees" and "drowsy" and you have a mini-dictionary of delight.

But it is not just the words. It is what they do together. Shakespeare tried it, too: "Where the bee sucks, there suck I." Ulick O'Connor wraps his kiss with every sense, and sucks deeply at the very essence of life.

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