Blake's Fly

Does William Blake have the right idea when he compares the life of a fly to that of a human being? Life is life, he says, whether it be breathed in through the thorax, or the nose. Life is as significant to an insect as it is to mortal man. Without it, neither fly nor man is capable of dance. It is the life within each that allows for song, and the ability to take in drink.

Just as the insect in the poet's rhyme, "The Fly", leads a precarious existence that depends mostly upon the whim of fate, so, too, does man's. Neither Diptern nor Homo sapien can guess at what any given moment will bring next, nor at which moment in time life will cease; when summer's play will be brushed away by some blind hand. Also, as the poem goes, if thought is life, and the want of thought is death, than who should care of strength and breath, for either way brings happiness.

What the good poet has forgotten to mention, however, is the spiritual factor which changes the entire picture. It doesn't change what's been said, but it does make a difference to the final outcome of life, itself, for mankind, not to mention to its origin. The fly's wing is meant to be brushed by a thoughtless hand, putting an end to its play as well as its dance and drink and song. Not so with man. People were given life for a greater purpose, for a divine end. Therefore, I add the last six words in blue text to the following poem:

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 'til 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, for I belong to the LORD. Romans 14:8.

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What do you say?