The PINE APPLE and the BEE. William Cowper Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T14895 K027775.000 Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London printed for J. Johnson 1782 pp. 330-332. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰.

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The PINE APPLE and the BEE . THE pine apples in triple row , Were basking hot and all in blow , A bee of most discerning taste Perceiv'd the fragrance as he pass'd , On eager wing the spoiler came , And search'd for crannies in the frame , Urg'd his attempt on ev'ry side , To ev'ry pane his trunk applied , But still in vain , the frame was tight And only pervious to the light . Thus having wasted half the day , He trimmed his flight another way . Methinks , I said , in thee I find The sin and madness of mankind ; To joys forbidden man aspires , Consumes his soul with vain desires ; Folly the spring of his pursuit , And disappointment all the fruit . While Cynthio ogles as she passes The nymph between two chariot glasses , She is the pine apple , and he The silly unsuccessful bee . The maid who views with pensive air The show-glass fraught with glitt'ring ware , Sees watches , bracelets , rings , and lockets , But sighs at thought of empty pockets , Like thine her appetite is keen , But ah the cruel glass between ! Our dear delights are often such , Expos'd to view but not to touch ; The sight our foolish heart inflames , We long for pine apples in frames , With hopeless wish one looks and lingers , One breaks the glass and cuts his fingers , But they whom truth and wisdom lead , Can gather honey from a weed .