Songs and Sonnets (Coleman)/Since Reading Maeterlinck
SINCE READING MAETERLINCK.
I used to think the honey-bee
A harmless little fellow,
An animated symphony
Done up in brown and yellow,
But since I read my Maeterlinck
I really don't know what to think!
Such marvellous sagacity
And delicate acumen,
Such zeal and pertinacity
Are really more than human;
Such order, industry and law
Inspire me with the deepest awe.
Republican in principle
Is laid their constitution,
And every little waxen cell
Accords with evolution;
Their national life is most complex—
Nor merely to be thought reflex!
The queen and all her acolytes
Are carefully defended,
The drones and all the lesser lights
Are also well attended;
That they can fashion queen or drone
Most undeniably is shown.
They practise every secret art,
Nature herself defying,
And to the death each plays his part—
'Tis really stupefying;
One questions if great Socrates
Knew half as much as honey-bees!
I almost feel I should forsake—
It seems such desecration—
The honey that I used to take
With so much delectation
As if one ate the very flowers—
The hearts of happy summer hours!
If ever country life to you
Seems dull and overrated,
And you would have a point of view
Both fresh and elevated.
Read up on Bees, by Maeterlinck,
He'll show you how to see and think!