Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/234

136 Lo! see soone after, how more bold and free

Her bared bosome she doth broad display.

Lo! see soone after, how she fades and falls away!

"So passeth, in the passing of a day

Of mortall life, the leafe, the bud, the flowre;

Ne more doth florish after first decay,

That earth was sought to deck both bed and bowre

Of many a lady and many a paramoure.

Gather therefore the rose whilest yet is prime,

For soone comes age, that will her pride deflowre:

Gather the rose of love whilest yet is time,

Whilest loving thou mayst loved be with equal crime."

Well does the excelling beauty and exquisite perfume of this praised flower merit our admiration. We may say with the Poets, Beaumont and Fletcher—

In the garden scene already quoted from, in the "Two Noble Kinsmen," is this exceedingly poetic and graceful passage; it has few equals.