O bees! ye myriad, myriad bees,
That in this clover ply your fragrant trade,
Know I am hoarse with shouting words like these:
Unto your rifled hive bear instant aid!
The spoilers crush the nectar-guarding walls.
Whose fashion to outvie no hand is skilled;
With wastage on their lips the treasure palls
Whose color might the summer sunbeams gild;
And, laughing, each unto the other calls.
While quick his silver measure full is filled.
Out of the clover come, three-leaf, white, and pink,
Out of the matted tufts of dappled green;
Hang not low humming by the tuneful brink
Of lark's or linnet's nest that none hath seen.
While I, alas! but of the honey think
And all the flowers where ye went to glean.
O bees! bees! bees! All bees! all bees!
Whate'er the first pale primrose of the March
Bleak sky hath yielded, or the beckoning trees
Have waved you on their fringy, May-stirred arch,
Whatever drops slow trembling to the lids
Of violets that other tears excite
Ye thence have garnered, or from pyramids
Of purple shades, or from the trumpets white
Of honeysuckles, where the katydids
Sing all the summer nights.
Or from the wayside bloom that none hath named aright.
Whatever from the myrtle's mass of crape.
Whatever from the thistle's dome of spears,
Or wind-swung promise of the coming grape.
Or sad chrysanthemum, the flower of biers,—
All, all is rifled, and, with laughter wild.
And flying feet, and vessels rich with gain,
And tresses tossed, and consciences defiled.
Through the deep greenwood vanish the thieving train.
NOT HIS DELIBERATE CHOICE.
"WILL you come?"
"It's very kind in you to propose it, but—"
"Oh, come, now, no buts. You hate put me off all summer. I don't propose this time; I insist. The lessons in Hebrew can wait awhile."
"It isn't the lessons in Hebrew," the second speaker replied, hesitating and frowning.
"Then what is it? Heavens! what a serious fellow you are!" the first replied, whirling about in his revolving chair to face his companion, who was pacing up and down the room with long strides. Here I invite you to run down into the country with me for a couple of weeks, and you act as if I had asked you to sign a contract with the arch-enemy."
