TO A LADY IN RETIREMENT.
Reading edition
1 Sees not my love how time resumes The glory which he lent these flowers? Though none should taste of their perfumes, Yet must they live but some few hours: Time what we forbear devours!
2 Had Helen, or the Egyptian Queen,[1] Been ne'er so thrifty of their graces, Those beauties must at length have been The spoil of age, which finds out faces In the most retirèd places.
3 Should some malignant planet bring A barren drought, or ceaseless shower, Upon the autumn or the spring, And spare us neither fruit nor flower; Winter would not stay an hour.
4 Could the resolve of love's neglect Preserve you from the violation Of coming years, then more respect Were due to so divine a fashion, Nor would I indulge my passion.
[1] 'Egyptian Queen': Cleopatra.