Highlight Poetry (7)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

The Fly

William Blake

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

This is such a short, simple seeming poem, but so thought-provoking.  I first came across this poem in an Agatha Christie novel (Endless Night, which featured another poem I love - that will come later) and it works perfectly with that novel which is also thought-provoking and quite different from the usual Agatha Christie fare.

The idea that we can be just as insignificant as a fly for a higher being is quite humbling; that we have life should be a great gift. Life can be fleeting and the end unpredictable.  And also I think equating our lives to even the most seemingly insignificant life forms on Earth helps one to remember that having life and dying will be the same for every living thing.  In a very broad, metaphysical sense. Unfortunately, this poem doesn't make me like flies. :)