Love
Honey and Sting (Mackail)
Translated by J. W. Mackail (1890) · From Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology (1890)
Flower-fed bee, why touchest thou my Heliodora's skin, leaving outright the flower-bells of spring? Meanest thou that even the unendurable sting of Love, ever bitter to the heart, has a sweetness too? Yes, I think, this thou sayest; ah, fond one, go back again; we knew thy news long ago.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Gadara, Meleager of. “Honey and Sting (Mackail).” Translated by J. W. Mackail. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/meleager/155/.
Chicago
Gadara, Meleager of. “Honey and Sting (Mackail).” Translated by J. W. Mackail. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/meleager/155/.
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