Life, 1915-03-11 · page 7 of 48
Life — March 11, 1915 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a poem titled "The Gift" by Leolyn Louise Everett, accompanied by an illustration captioned "The Bee That Gives the Honey Also Stings." **The Satire:** The poem satirizes romantic sacrifice and its consequences. A woman demands her suitor's "golden heart" as proof of love. He tears it from his chest, but she witnesses the "crimson drops of agony" and realizes the gift's terrible cost—his suffering transforms her joy to despair. She rejects it: "I do not want it any more. Throw it away!" **The Point:** The illustration and poem together mock the romantic ideal of absolute self-sacrifice. The satire suggests that love demands that appear noble actually inflict harm, and that receiving such a gift creates guilt rather than happiness. It's social commentary on excessive romantic sentiment and its destructive consequences.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“GIVE me your heart,” she said, “ your golden heart. Out of my breast I tore it, for her whim, Ah, give it me! And, one by one, For it is dearer than the blossomed earth, She saw the crimson drops of agony The boundless sea. + Slip down and run, Lo, there shall high upon my brow be set While, in a flash, her merriment was changed What I adore, To chill dismay. That I may wear it as my splendid crown She said. “I do not want it any more. Forevermore.” Throw it away!” Leolyn Louise THE BEE THAT GIVES THE HONEY ALSO STINGS