To the young Lady Lucy Sydney.
Why came I so untimely forth
Into a world which, wanting thee,
Could entertain us with no worth.
Or shadow of felicity?
That time should me so far remove
From that which I was born to love.
Yet, fairest Blossom! do not slight
That age which you may know so soon;
The rosy morn resigns her light
And milder splendors to the noon:10
If such thy dawning beauty's power
Who shall abide its noon-tide hour?
Hope waits upon the flowery prime;
And summer though it be less gay.
Yet is not look'd on as a time
Of declination or decay;
For with a full hand she doth bring
All that was promised by the spring.
Waller.