Laden

Inspired by Cargoes by John Masefield

Honey bees and bumblebees with panniers of gold,    
slaloming through meadows in a frantic dizzy drift
laden up with nectar, pollen,
payloads garnered from their toil;
golden dust from hellebore and heather, comfrey; thrift.

Ants commune in silence, working urgently as one,
salvaging their valuables from predators or rain: 
laden with their food and eggs  
they move in swift-shift lines,
heading on to safer ground to build their home again. 

Snails tote shells with whorls and bands of colour,
inch along their moist and sticky tracks:
laden with a painted howdah
rhythm-swaying side to side,
wear their homes upon themselves like domed hard hats.