Wilting Intrinsic Value Poem by Amelie Ison

A bee that cannot pollinate a flower
Is no bee at all.
It is deemed useless; it will surely die—
A bee must do its job to survive.
The colony would never accept a bee
Who can't fill the role nature gave it to do.
A bee that cannot contribute to its family
Will be cast out and forgotten.
Alone; a bee cannot survive,
But, disowned, it has no home in which to return.

This bee will surely join the wasps—
Rejected by society as nuisances
Who offer nothing but incessant noise
And a stinging headache.
This bee will become a wasp just to belong—
Because a bee that cannot pollinate
Is rejected as a freak or nature.
Without pollination, so many will die,
And this one bee is all to blame.