Page:Hand in hand; (IA handinhand00kipl).pdf/36



LD Age to Beauty doth more fatal prove Than Death in Beauty's bloom and blossoming, Which, snatching loveliness from arms of love, Sets all the world a moment sorrowing.

That, like a subtle forger, whose base art Defiles, defaces, desecrates at will, And leaving all, yet changes every part, And makes all valueless with knavish skill;—

This, like a thief who steals a diadem, But, knowing not to change the treasure's worth, In guilty haste hides deep the radiant gem, A flawless jewel still, beneath the earth:—

And yet, 'twixt this and that, how hard to say, Which better is—swift death or slow decay?