Of the Fly at the Candle

What ails this fly thus desperately to enter
A combat with the candle? Will she venture

What ails this fly thus desperately to enter
A combat with the candle? Will she venture
To clash at light? Away, thou silly fly;
Thus doing thou wilt burn thy wings and die.

But ’tis a folly her advice to give,
She’ll kill the candle, or she will not live.
Slap, says she, at it; then she makes retreat,
So wheels about, and doth her blows repeat.

Nor doth the candle let her quite escape,
But gives some little check unto the ape:
Throws up her heels it doth, so down she falls,
Where she lies sprawling, and for succour calls.

When she recovers, up she gets again,
And at the candle comes with might and main,
But now behold, the candle takes the fly,
And holds her, till she doth by burning die.

Comparison.

This candle is an emblem of that light
Our gospel gives in this our darksome night.

The fly a lively picture is of those
That hate and do this gospel light oppose.

At last the gospel doth become their snare,
Doth them with burning hands in pieces tear.

John Bunyan