Poems in The Court Journal during the year 1835 by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.)/The Swarming of the Bees
The Court Journal, 12th September 1835, page 579
THE SWARMING OF THE BEES.
They are come, they are come; yet what brings them here,
With smoke around, and with walls so near?
Yet there they cling to the golden wand
As there were no sunnier garden beyond.
The garden is filled with their drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
Whence have they wandered I cannot tell,
But I dream me a dream of some lonely dell,
Where violets thick mid the green grass sprung,
Like a purple cloak by a monarch flung.
Our garden now fills with their drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
Had they grown weary of roses in bloom,
Or the long falling wreaths of the yellow-haired broom!
Of the seringa's pale orange-touched flowers
Of the gardens afar, that they wander to ours!
How pleasant it is with their drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
Our garden is somewhat pale and lone,
And the walls are high, with ivy o'ergrown;
And the dust of the city lies dark on the rose,
And the lily is almost afraid to unclose.
Yet, welcome the sound of their drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
The vapours of London float over our head,
Yet athwart them the shower and the sunshine are shed;
And cheerful the light of the morning falls
O'er the almond-tree and the ivied walls.
Sweet sounds around it the drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
We have shrubs that have flourished the summer through—
The jessamine hanging like pearls on dew,
The fusia that droops, like the curls of a bride,—
Bells of coral, with Syrian purple inside.
They'll grow more fair, with that drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
The sun-flower's golden round shall yield
Its shining store for their harvest field;
We'll plant wild thyme with the April rain,
And feed them till then on the sugar-cane.
Welcome, welcome, their drowsy hum!
Oh where is a hive, for the bees are come!
L. E. L.