The tulip and the butterfly Appear in gayer coats than I: Let me be dressed fine as I will, Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.

In these lines, the speaker measures human finery against the effortless beauty of nature. The tulip and butterfly “appear in gayer coats,” and even the lowliest creatures—flies and worms—along with flowers, “exceed” the human attempt at adornment. The contrast undercuts vanity: clothing and display are shown as superficial, while natural forms possess an inherent splendor not manufactured by pride or wealth. In a moral-religious frame typical of Watts’s didactic verse, the passage encourages humility and a reorientation from outward show to inward virtue, suggesting that true worth is not secured by dress but by character and spiritual condition.