Poem by Thomas Carew

A Fly that Flew into My Mistress' Eye

When this fly lived, she used 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
Sucked all the incense and the spice,
And grew a bird of paradise.
At last into her eye she flew;
There scorched in flames and drowned in dew,
Like Phaeton from the sun's sphere
She fell, and with her dropped a tear,
Of which a pearl was straight composed,
Wherein her ashes lie enclosed.
Thus she received from Celia's eye
Funeral flame, tomb, obsequy.

1. Epitaph for Maria Wentworth
2. Murdering Beauty
3. The Primrose
4. Secrecy Protested
5. I Do Not Love Thee For That Fair

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