TO A NIGHT-FLY

Attracted by the taper's rays,

How carelessly you come to gaze

On what absorbs you in its blaze!

O Fly! I bid you have a care:

You do not heed the danger near;

This light, to you a blazing star.

Already you have scorch'd your wings:

What courage, or what folly brings

You, hovering near such blazing things?

Ah me! you touch this little sun —

One circuit more and all is done!—

Now to the furnace you are gone!—

Thus folly with ambition join'd,

Attracts the insects of mankind,

And sways the superficial mind:

Thus, power has charms which all admire,

But dangerous is that central fire —

If you are wise in time retire.—