[Birthe Myers]

This poem is by Lessing, it is clearly the poem by Meleager in Lessing’s 18th century German interpretation.

Die Biene
by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (born Jan. 22, 1729, in Kamenz, Upper Lusatia, Saxony [Germany]—died Feb. 15, 1781,

Die Biene

Als Amor in den goldnen Zeiten_
Verliebt in Schäfer Lustbarkeiten_
Auf bunten Blumenfeldern lief,_
Da stach den kleinsten von den Göttern_
Ein Bienchen, das in Rosenblättern,_
Wo es sonst Honig holte, schlief.__

Durch diesen Stich ward Amor klüger._
Der unerschöpfliche Betrüger_
Sann einer neuen Kriegslist nach:_
Er lauscht in Rosen und Violen;_
Und kam ein Mädchen sie zu holen,_
Flog er als Bien heraus, und stach.

THE BEE

As Amor, in the golden age,
absorbed in shepherds’ pleasures,
came running through the flower fields,
that smallest of the gods was stung
by a little bee, asleep in a rose,
where it otherwise gathered honey,

This sting made Amor wiser.
That unrelenting scalawag
thought up a new plan of attack..
He lurked in rose and violet
and when girls came to pick them,
he flew out like a bee, and stung.



My own interpretation of the poem:

A new poem, the first one limps - a lot.

Revision

Bee, why leave the fragrant flora,
all in bloom, wherein you dwell?
Were you drawn to Hiliodora
by her skin’s bewitching smell?
If the heart-wound Eros’s sting
causes is the news you bring,
lovers’ friend, fly home again.


The Bee, first try:

Say, Bee, why have you left the flora
of blooming spring wherein you dwell?
Is it the skin of Hiliodora,
that lured you with its tantalizing smell?
Or is the hurt to hearts by Eros’s sting
the message you have come to me to bring?
In that case, lovers’ friend, go home again.