62
And chose each lovely bud, and fragrant flower,
The emblems true of youth's enraptur'd hour.
The emblems true of youth's enraptur'd hour.
The brilliant rainbow-tints, the softer bloom,
The graceful form, the exquisite perfume,
Faded by heat, or scatter'd by the wind,
All pass away, nor "leave a wreck behind."
Yon Cistus, mark, fairest of Flora's train,
Of velvet robe, and splendid colors vain,
Whose wide-spread blossoms proudly-flaunting gleam,
Woo the bright ray, and wanton in the beam,
To-morrow's sun shall view them strew'd around,
Borne on the breeze, or with'ring on the ground:
Successive flow'rs the parent shrub illume,
And each succession finds a daily tomb.
The graceful form, the exquisite perfume,
Faded by heat, or scatter'd by the wind,
All pass away, nor "leave a wreck behind."
Yon Cistus, mark, fairest of Flora's train,
Of velvet robe, and splendid colors vain,
Whose wide-spread blossoms proudly-flaunting gleam,
Woo the bright ray, and wanton in the beam,
To-morrow's sun shall view them strew'd around,
Borne on the breeze, or with'ring on the ground:
Successive flow'rs the parent shrub illume,
And each succession finds a daily tomb.
Alike in charms, but diff'rent far in fate,
May thy bright roses mourn no transient date!
May thy bright roses mourn no transient date!
