Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | Fidessa | Sonnet XXVI. The silly bird that hastes unto the net | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| THE SILLY bird that hastes unto the net, | |
And flutters to and fro till she be taken, | |
Doth look some food or succour there to get, | |
But loseth life: so much is she mistaken! | |
The foolish fly that fleeth to the flame | 5 |
With ceaseless hovering, and with restless flight, | |
Is burnèd straight to ashes in the same, | |
And finds her death, where was her most delight. | |
The proud aspiring boy, that needs would pry | |
Into the secrets of the highest seat, | 10 |
Had some conceit to gain content thereby, | |
Or else his folly, sure, was wondrous great. | |
These did through folly perish all and die: | |
And, though I know it! even so do I! | | | |
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