They met me coming up
the concession to our lane
after the bus’s flag stop.
They were waiting
in the bursts of asters,
in milkweed pods
and the open crowns
of yellow marsh marigolds.
They circled my head
and a halo followed me
with wings singing,
asking where I’d been.
I’d had a long journey.
The summer was ending,
the trees heavy and green
were dusty and tired,
yet I could almost taste
the pleasure of my welcome,
though I knew nothing
strays farther from the truth
in search of home or honey
and coming home is only
a reminder that as bees fly
the world is a small place.
Bruce Meyer is author or editor of 64 books of poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, and non-fiction. He has had three national bestsellers in Canada, and was 2019 winner of the Anton Chekhov Prize for Fiction (UK) and the Freefall Prize for Poetry. He has recently been a finalist in the Bath Short Story Prize, the National Poetry Competition (UK), the Tom Gallon Trust Fiction Prize, the Carter V. Cooper Prize, and the Thomas Morton Prize for Fiction. He lives in Barrie, Ontario, and teaches at Georgian College and Victoria College at the University of Toronto.