THAT lovely spot which thou dost see In Celia's bosom was a bee, Who built her amorous spicy nest I' th' Hyblas of her either breast. But from close ivory hives she flew To suck the aromatic dew Which from the neighbour vale distils, Which parts those two twin-sister hills. There feasting on ambrosial meat, A rolling file of balmy sweat (As in soft murmurs before death Swan-like she sung) chok'd up her breath: So she in water did expire, More precious than the phœnix' fire. Yet still her shadow there remains Confin'd to those Elysian plains, With this strict law, that who shall lay His bold lips on that milky way, The sweet and smart from thence shall bring Of the bee's honey and her sting. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FOOL'S ADVENTURE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 3. AR-RAHEEM by EDWIN ARNOLD THE BATTLE OF THE PIGMIES AND THE CRANES by JAMES BEATTIE IN EXAMINATION by RUPERT BROOKE LETTER TO JOHN GOUDIE, KILMARNOCK by ROBERT BURNS THE RONALDS OF THE BENNALS by ROBERT BURNS ON THE UNION AND THREE-FOLD DISTINCTION OF GOD, NATURE AND CREATURE by JOHN BYROM |