Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPIDER AND FLY, by ALICE CARY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPIDER AND FLY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once when morn was flowing in
Last Line: Sitting on her silver stairs.
Subject(s): Flies; Insects; Spiders; Bugs


ONCE when morn was flowing in,
Broader, redder, wider,
In her house with walls so thin
That they could not hide her,
Just as she would never spin,
Sat a little spider --
Sat she on her silver stairs,
Meek as if she said her prayers.

Came a fly, whose wings had been
Making circles wider,
Having but the buzz and din
Of herself to guide her.
Nearer to these walls so thin,
Nearer to the spider,
Sitting on her silver stairs,
Meek as if she said her prayers.

Said the silly fly, "Too long
Malice has belied her;
How should she do any wrong,
With no walls to hide her?"
So she buzzed her pretty song
To the wily spider,
Sitting on her silver stairs
Meek as though she said her prayers.

But in spite her modest mien,
Had the fly but eyed her
Close enough, she would have seen
Fame had not belied her --
That, as she had always been,
She was still a spider;
And that she was not at prayers,
Sitting on her silver stairs.





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