HONEY BEE

13th November 2023

See, sons, what things you are,

How quickly nature falls into revolt

When gold becomes her object!

For this the foolish overcareful fathers

have broke their sleep with thoughts,

their brains with cares, their bones with industry

For this they have engrossed and piled up

the cankered heaps of strange-achieved gold.

For this they have been thoughtful to invest

their sons with arts and martial exercises -

When, like the bee, tolling from every flower

the virtuous sweets,

Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey,

We bring it to the hive and, like the bees,

Are murdered for our pains.

KING HENRY: Henry IV Part 2, Act 4, Scene 3