Page:Modern poets and poetry of Spain.djvu/137

Rh But kindness, like the gentle rain,

Which April gives to glad the field,

Which makes all flourishing the plain,

And seeds their stores to yield.

Be not disdainful then, but kind:

Know not to certain beauteous eyes

Alone all beauty is confined,

Or locks of golden dyes.

Vain puff'd-up beauty will appear,

But like some showy ivy stem;

They may surprise, but fruitless, ne'er

Have any valuing them.

If join'd with kindness, like the vine

It seems, with fruitful stores array'd;

Where all contentedly recline,

Beneath its peaceful shade:

And whose green stems, the elm around,

When twining with adorning grace

Its leaves, will hold it also bound,

Firm in its fond embrace.

Flower of a day is beauty's bloom;

Time leaves it soon behind: if e'er

Thou doubt'st my word, let Celia's doom

The lesson true declare.