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.