Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

The Bag of the Bee

ABOUT the sweet bag of a bee

Two Cupids fell at odds;

And whose the pretty prize should be

They vow’d to ask the Gods.

Which Venus hearing, thither came,

And for their boldness stript them;

And taking thence from each his flame,

With rods of myrtle whipt them.

Which done, to still their wanton cries,

When quiet grown she’d seen them,

She kiss’d and wiped their dove-like eyes,

And gave the bag between them.