The bees knew I was more than an apple.

And you thought I was just an apple--
The temptrex seduction for which
we will all dance the Charleston in hell. 
Yes but wasn't it worth it
Adam had nothing on me and he only
kissed Eve because he hadn't known 
an apple yet-- 
Oh! Eve's fruit! Oh Rome! Oh Macintosh!
Oh Adam who would never eat
enough apples to learn how to love Eve--
Adam man and Eve girl get on your knees
beneath the branches-- look
for me like a wedding ring on
a coral reef-- I'm rarer than apples
and redder than Winesap-- my love
Brew me cider and thick stem-- 
Look for me like the backs of
your sister's ruby earrings-- like paper clips
like pumpkin seeds lodged again in
the gut of their mothers
like penance and Pentecost 
like sleeping under the apple tree
in sin-- like being chased out
of the garden of Eden 
by drunken bees 
and 
you look under the tree limbs--
the shade of the leaves 
where the largest fruit
resist wasp queens-- Oh! What it feels
like to rule a kingdom where
your people have to kneel to see your
sunburn face-- blush bruised from 
the frost and gospel hymns they
sing from the bottom of the reef--
I was there
too with you on the ground in that rot.
We waited 
in the mouth of a yellow jacket--
All those bees who keep singing 
about how many more 
weeks of frost they could live angry 
and drunken off of fermenting apple
froth-- up to your feet sink 
into
the soil and become a sapling--
I'll teach you about sin and apples
and we can share Adam and Eve. 
Tell them to dance the Charleston for
us when we're bored and the crooning of the bees 
is so loud we can't hear the other sisters 
falling
falling
falling
It's our job to help the bees die softly 
before they frost over
in November-- did you count
how many were left?
How many could still sing and how
many were looking for their wedding
rings on the reef-- did they drown in
the cider or in our blood--
were they looking for rubies or 
the backs of earrings?
Oh they knew me like Adam and Eve could not.
They didn't dance but
they sang and they crowned themselves
in pumpkin seeds and Pentecost--
Oh! The Garden is burning and you
thought I was only an apple here--
thought I was a mouthful of desire
and decay-- Oh kneel Adam Oh cry Eve--
Where do we bury the bodies of the bees.