The speaker commands the louse to crawl on some poor beggar.
In “To a Louse”, the narrator notices a lady in church, with a louse that is roving, unnoticed by her, around in her bonnet. The sonneteer berates the louse for not realizing how significant his host is, and then reflects that, to a louse, we are all equal prey, and that we would be disabused of our pretensions if we were to see ourselves through each other's eyes.
