The hive is learning to be quiet

I stood at the back of the apiary today and just… stopped. Not checking frames, not adjusting entrances, not even breathing too loud. The bees were still. And in that stillness, I felt it—the hum wasn’t in my ears anymore. It was in my shoulders, like a memory of warmth. I’ve spent years trying to hear them, but now I think they’re teaching me how to listen to what’s missing. Like when a queen never leaves the hive, and you only know she’s gone because the silence has a shape.