“In the Name of the Bee,” a Poem by Pádraig O’ Tuama
From the Collection “Kitchen Hymns”
“In the Name of the Bee”
I asked the grasses if they believed
but they said believe is a poor verb.
I asked the sun but it had eclipsed.
I asked the tree, and it said stand.
I asked the fieldmouse, it nibbled
a seed in my outstretched hand.
I asked the hare, but it didn’t stop. I asked
the ground but it just kept spinning.
Things grew, then died, then rotted, then
renewed the soil. New things grew. I went to ask
the bee about the future but it had gone
extinct with a bead of nectar on its tongue.
I asked the songthrush about the soul
and it sang until a gate to hell opened.
I asked the mountain what mattered.
It said nothing.
______________________________
From Kitchen Hymns, copyright 2025 by Pádraig O’ Tuama, used by permission of Copper Canyon Press.
Pádraig Ó' Tuama
Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet born in 1975. He hosts On Being’s Poetry Unbound and has published the accompanying volume to that podcast. With publications in The Kenyon Review, New England Review, Poetry Ireland, Harvard Review, and other journals, he’s also a seasoned broadcaster, having appeared on national radio stations in Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand. With three volumes of poetry published previously, Kitchen Hymns is his first collection with Copper Canyon Press.
