The Apiary + 

The Apiary is a bee village, + 

From thence they fly bent on pillage, + 

Extracting honey from the flowers; + 

They care not who doth own the bowers. + 

They seize on garden or on field, + 

Wherever blossoms sweets do yield; + 

’Mong garden flowers or fields of clover + 

They do roam about all over. + 

For their own use they make the honey, + 

Though owners sell it oft for money. + 

The bees so skilful do design + 

Their honey comes and they love sunshine. + 

From flower to flower they fly on wing, + 

And each one armed with a sharp sting, + 

Determined all the sweets to sieze, + 

Those marauding honey bees. + 

They live in a great commonwealth, + 

And they punish fraud or stealth; + 

They busy toil from morn ’till ’een, + 

And they are loyal to their Queen. + 

But bees, like men, they sometimes thrive + 

By robbing of their neighbors hive; + 

The weaker from their homes they drive, + 

While stronger flourish and survive. + 