An ancient Egyptian papyrus traces the origin of bees to tears: “The god Re [the sun god also known as Ra] wept, and the tears from his eyes fell on the ground and turned into a bee. The bee made his honeycomb and busied himself with the flowers of every plant and so wax was made and also honey out of the tears of Re.” Gene Kritsky quotes this inscription in The Tears of Re (2015), about beekeeping in ancient Egypt.
The Tears of Re
DF 12.19. 2019
Pool his tears onto the palm of your hand,
Ice is warm but cold water drapes the bay;
For a thousand tears make a fine land.
Drip, drip, drip drowns the sorrow band,
An army of none and all that comes to say,
Pool his tears onto the palm of your hand.
Tears with honey are often spanned,
The art of nature is an ancient play,
For a thousand tears make a fine land.
Curse not blessing we must demand,
When no tears are left to cry today;
Pool his tears onto the palm of your hand.
His tears to possess at the bee stand,
To have and to heal our lungs of gray,
For a thousand tears make a fine land.
From our minds, our bees we banned,
And our evils with tears will pay someday,
Pool his tears onto the palm of your hand.
For a thousand tears make a fine land.