Digging to the Limit

Today’s dubitable Easter light
had me going outside, to see
if some gardening would help
to make the day a little brighter.
From the high grown pile,
where I had been massing cuts
and plant waste, broken branches
of the pruned butterfly-bush
had slipped off onto the pavement.

So I took a shovel to rearrange it
in a corner, for more support.
But when digging in the bottom part,
where things had nearly composted,
a small settlers’ panic broke loose
in the form of running centipedes
and a loud and anxious buzzing,
of what I guess were bumblebees,
rudely disturbed in their sleep.

The only thing that seemed
appropriate to me, was to apologize
and put their roof back in place,
so the damage could be mended.
After all, I had been inviting them
to make this waste-hill their home
by leaving it unattended. The sun
then smiled from behind the clouds,
while the buzzing stopped, and
my intrusion ended.