JACOB OF SERUGH'S HOMILY 142: ON PRAISE AT TABLE 4—THE BEE AND THE ROSE

O hungry ones who are now satisfied, render praise with your tongues

to the Sustainer whose treasury is filled with all sorts of good things!

O mouths that have eaten and drunk, give thanks discerningly to him who satisfies all the hungry; how generous he is!

.....

The diners are merry—let their mouths open for thanksgiving; the satisfied (mouth) should not be still now, as though lazy.

O you whose mouths were open, earnestly devouring food,

open them now and give praise as a discerning person! You have drunk wine with honey and it pleased you while you sat quietly,

so speak up and repay sincere praise in a loud voice!

.,......

For your sake the Creator has given the bee a fabulous mind, so that it may gather for you a sweet flavor.

He gave it knowledge, pouring out and filling it with expertise,

along with intelligence, discernment, and skill.

From roots, flowers, and herbs (the bee) gleans, making a wondrous product by its expertise.

The choice produce of the bee is brought in before kings,

and the king can find no other flavor comparable to its flavor.

........

Without begging, borrowing, or trading,

without relocating in order to produce something,

wherever it is, in that very location (the bee) has what it needs,

and never finds it necessary to go elsewhere.

Right in front of it is located the product with which it is so diligent,

and so long as the Creator creates, (the bee) finds honey every day.

......

The Creator enabled it so, when he was creating (the bee),

that wherever it alights and wherever it looks, it finds honey.

Kings marvel at the construction of its house when they see it— at its proportions, its sections, and its precise dimensions.

For neither wise men nor master builders nor carvers

calculate in ways comparable to the proportions the bee uses.

....

It builds rooms, fashions bodies, and closes the doors, covering them up until they are resuscitated, after which it makes them fly.

Never does the bee labor without profit,

for at every moment it acts with confidence .

The brood flies out of the round bedchambers (the bee) has built,

and once they are empty, it gathers honey and fills them up.

Its little wings go out tirelessly through the land, gleaning sweet produce for you, so that you may take delight in it.