CORRECTED LYRICS (and modernized spellings)

It Was A Time When Silly Bees
(Words ascribed to Robert, Earl of Essex)

It was a Time when silly Bees could speak,
And in that Time I was a silly Bee.
Who fed on Thyme until my heart 'gan break,
Yet never found the Time would favour me.
Of all the swarm I only did not thrive,
Yet brought I wax and honey to the hive.

Then thus I buzz'd, when Thyme no sap would give,
Why should this blessed Thyme to me be dry,
Sith by this Thyme the lazy drone doth live,
The wasp, the worm, the gnat, the butterfly,
Mated with grief, I kneel-ed on my knees,
And thus complained unto the King of bees.

'My liege, gods grant thy Time may never end,
And yet vouchsafe to hear my plaint of Thyme,
Which fruiltlesse flies have found to have a friend,
And I cast down when atomies do climb.'
The King replied but thus, 'Peace peevish bee,
Thou'rt bound to serve the Time, the Thyme not thee.'

A dcitionary provides "tiny being" as one definition for 'atomy'.