160 LIFE AND THE FLOWERS. LIFE AND THE FLOWERS. I MADE a posy while the day ran by: "Here will I smell my remnant out, and tie My life within this band." But Time did beckon to the flowers, and they And withered in my hand. My hand was next to them, and then my heart. Who did so sweetly death's sad taste convey, Farewell, dear flow'rs! sweetly your time ye spent; I follow straight, without complaints or grief; It be as short as yours. G. Herbert. TO BLOSSOMS. 161 TO BLOSSOMS. FAIR pledges of a fruitful tree, Your date is not so past, What, were ye born to be, An hour or half's delight, But you are lovely leaves, where we R. Herrick, Elder Poets. 162 THE SUNFLOWER. THE SUNFLOWER. AH! Sunflower, weary of time, Where the Youth pined away with desire, W. Blake. LOVE-SLAIN. COME away, come away, Death, My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, My part of death no one so true Not a flower, not a flower sweet, My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown. Lay me, O, where Sad true lover ne'er find my grave, W. Shakespeare. TAKE, O take those lips away, Hide, O hide those hills of snow, Which thy frozen bosom bears, On whose tops the pinks that grow Are of those that April wears: But first set my poor heart free, Bound in those icy chains by thee. W. Shakespeare. 164 LOVE UNRETURNED LOVE UNRETURNED. My silks and fine array, My smiles and languished air, By love are driven away; And mournful lean Despair His face is fair as heaven Bring me an axe and spade, Bring me a winding sheet; Let winds and tempests beat: W. Blake. |