* 



THE FLY. 



Ah ! fleeting race! soon thy hour's fled, 

 Soon the earth is cover'd with thy dead, 



Thy myriad people soon are gone ; 

 And frohc mirth 's no longer seen, 

 Ah ! soon ye fill th' insatiate tomb, 



It scarce remains that ye have been! 



Thus struck with wonder I behold 

 Man's thoughtless race, in error bold, 



Forget, nay scorn, the laws of Death; 

 With these no projects coincide. 

 Nor vows, nor toils, nor hopes, can guide. 



Each thinks he draws i?nmortal breath ! 



Each, blind to Fates approaching hour. 

 Intrigues or fights for wealth or pow'r, 



And shimFring dangers dare provoke : 

 And he who, tott'ring, scarce sustains 

 A century's age, plans future gains. 



And feels an unexpected stroke! 



Go on, unlr idled, desperate land, 



Scorn rocks, gulphs, winds, search sea and land. 



And spoil new worlds, wherever found: 

 Sei%e, haste to seize the glittWing prize. 

 And sighs, and tears, and prayrs despise, 



Nor spare the temples holy ground! 



They go, succeed; hut look agaiji, 

 The desperate hand you seek in vain, 



Now trod in dust, the peasant's scorn : 

 But who that saw their treasures swell. 

 That heard th" insatiate crew rebel, 



Woidd eer have thought them mortal horn? 



See the world's Victor mount his car ; 

 Blood marks his progress wide and far, 



Sure he shall reign while ages fly: 

 No; vanish'd like a morning cloud. 

 The Hero was but just allow'd 



To fight, to conquer, and to die. 



And is it true, I ask with dread. 

 That Nations, heap'd on Nations, bled 



Beneath his chariot's fervid wheel. 

 With trophies to adorn the spot. 

 Where his pale corse is left to rot. 



And doom'd the hungry reptile's meal? 



Yes! Fortune, weary'd with her play. 

 Her toy, this hero, casts away; 



No haughty thoughts now fill his breast!— 

 How changed his look!— how pale!— how cold!- 

 Next made a spectre to behold 



In realms — where he shall never rest! 





* Man other plants beside the Catchfly Dion^a are inimical to this fugacious race, as the Sarracenia, Silene, Androsymum, &c. 



