Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A FLY THAT FLEW INTO MY MISTRESS HER EYE, by THOMAS CAREW



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A FLY THAT FLEW INTO MY MISTRESS HER EYE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When this fly liv'd she us'd to play
Last Line: Funeral, flame, tomb, obsequy.
Subject(s): Flies


WHEN this fly liv'd, she us'd to play
In the sunshine all the day;
Till, coming near my Celia's sight,
She found a new and unknown light,
So full of glory as it made
The noonday sun a gloomy shade.
Then this amorous fly became
My rival, and did court my flame;
She did from hand to bosom skip,
And from her breath, her cheek, and lip,
Suck'd all the incense and the spice,
And grew a bird of paradise.
At last into her eye she flew,
There scorch'd in flames and drown'd in dew,
Like Phaëton from the sun's sphere,
She fell, and with her dropp'd a tear,
Of which a pearl was straight compos'd,
Wherein her ashes lie enclos'd.
Thus she receiv'd from Celia's eye
Funeral, flame, tomb, obsequy.





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