| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | II. “The honey-bee, that wanders all day long” | | By Anne Charlotte Lynch (1815–1891) |
| | | THE HONEY-BEE, that wanders all day long | |
| The field, the woodland, and the garden o’er, | |
| To gather in his fragrant winter store, | |
| Humming in calm content his quiet song, | |
| Seeks not alone the rose’s glowing breast, | 5 |
| The lily’s dainty cup, the violet’s lips, | |
| But from all rank and noxious weeds he sips | |
| The single drop of sweetness closely prest | |
| Within the poison chalice. Thus if we | |
| Seek only to draw forth the hidden sweet | 10 |
| In all the varied human flowers we meet | |
| In the wide garden of humanity, | |
| And, like the bee, if home the spoil we bear, | |
| Hived in our hearts it turns to nectar there. | | | | |
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