A poem from 1713
By Jonathan Semple
Rural Sports
The careful insect 'midst his Works I view,
Now from the Flow'rs exhaust the fragrant Dew;
With golden Treasures load his little Thighs,
And steer his afry Journey through the Skies;
With liquid Sweets the waxen Cells distend,
While some 'gainst hostile drones their Cave defend;
Each in the Toil a proper Station bears,
And in the little Bulk a mighty soul appears.
John Gay, Rural Sports, 1713
The careful insect 'midst his Works I view,
Now from the Flow'rs exhaust the fragrant Dew;
With golden Treasures load his little Thighs,
And steer his afry Journey through the Skies;
With liquid Sweets the waxen Cells distend,
While some 'gainst hostile drones their Cave defend;
Each in the Toil a proper Station bears,
And in the little Bulk a mighty soul appears.
John Gay, Rural Sports, 1713