The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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DEATH OF A FLY
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
36
DEATH OF A FLY
A fly has just achieved a piteous fateBefore me, slaughtered in a candle-flame.
He has fulfilled, no doubt, his being's aim,
And won possession by the fiery gate
Of martyrdom of joys that may await
In paradise the flies of noble name.
At all events he has not come to shame,
That I am sure of, nor has cause to rate
The universal justice; if he had,
Arms of protesting we would run to take
And go to war with Heaven for the sake
Of one poor fly—for then the whole were bad,
And Beauty clothed in sackcloth would be sad
For the infliction of a single needless ache!
1870.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |