TLS: A Poem

In 1950, the ornithologist David Lack published Robin Redbreast, a compilation of robin lore - the bird's "unnatural history". Dr Lack's son Andrew has issued an expanded version, Redbreast: The robin in life and literature (SMH Books, £19.95), which adds poems by Ted Hughes, Norman MacCaig and others. Among the more curious verses is
this from about 1800, concerning one Ellen Gee of Kew - LNG of Q - who was stung in the eye by a bee and died:
Ye nymphs of Q, then shun each B,
List to the reason Y;
For should ABC U at T,
He'll surely sting your I,
Now in a grave L deep in Q,
She' s cold as cold can B;
Whilst robins sing upon A U
Her dirge and LEG.