Dragonflies & Bees

If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.

– Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee

Flora took pleasure in the delicacy of her approach and studied the ways of the smallest, sweetest blooms she could find, tiny pimpernels and forget-me-nots hiding in the pockets of the fields. The energy of the sun on her body and the joy of foraging filled her soul. She flew the fields and gathered until the light began to fade and she heard the sound of her forager sisters’ wings turning for home. Then she joined them.

– Laline Paull, The Bees

'Enchanted years! The wing of a dragonfly trembles! Oh, reader, whoever you may be, do you have such memories? Have you walked in the underbrush, pushing aside branches for the charming head behind you? Have you slid laughing down some slope wet with rain, with the woman you loved?

- Victor Hugo, Les Miserables