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...MELANCHOLY by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS JEFFERSON DAVIS by WALKER MERIWETHER BELL FIRST SAMUEL: AFTER THE SHAMANS by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE BIRDS OF PASSAGE: PRELUDE by MATHILDE BLIND ODE by ANNE CHARLOTTE LYNCH BOTTA THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: MADAME LA MARQUISE by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE FAREWELL. TO THE BRETHREN OF ST. JAMES'S LODGE, TARBOLTON by ROBERT BURNS |