[Maryann Corbett]

Somebody has to start, so here with all its flaws is a first attempt.

Honeybee, dweller in flowers, explain why you've left them. For my sake?
Why are you nuzzling up to the skin of my Heliodora?

Maybe you're telling me something, some secret about what you taste there:
sweet and unbearable Eros; Eros, the stinging, the bitter.

Yes, that's the gist, I imagine. But take yourself back to your flowers,
friend of all lovers. I've known for years what you're trying to say.


Mulling possibilities. (And later editing back to decide.)

We've had many disputes over the years about whether and how classical length-based meters should be translated into English stress-based meters. I think I can predict who will dislike this approach. But I like dactyls.

Some late thoughts: Though I'm glad to have tried the original meter, I have to agree that it looks padded compared to the nice compression of the versions below. Latin and Greek just seem to take more syllables to say a thing, a problem one meets often in the English translations fitted to classical choral works.

(Ann, since I'm not seeing anything like FE over 36, I think there's something amiss with the way your browser is rendering the code for the Greek. Perhaps Bill Lantry can be of assistance.)