Talk:Poems That Every Child Should Know/The Noble Nature

                                                       the noble nature
                                       
                                                 IT is not growing like a tree 
                                               in bulk, doth make man batter be
                                         or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
                                          to fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere;
                                                      A lily of a day 
                                                   Is fairer far in may,
                                            Although it fall and die that night-
                                            It was the plant and flower of light
                                         In small proportions we just beauties see;
                                         And in short measures life may perfect be.

                                                                                      -Ben Jonson