The singer and the flowers

Oh beaut'ous flow'rs of May

That swift must fade away

Do you ever in your joyous life remember

That tho' so fair today

In blossom bright and gay,

Ye'll all wither'd lie and dead be ere December?

All beauty must decay

Alas and welladay!

For I cannot choose but ever to remember

That she whose charms display,

Such perfect grace today

Must droop and die when cometh life's December.

Sad singer go thy way

And learn some lighter lay

We live and love, we seek not to remember,

We joy in life's heyday

And beauty while we may,

Content to die when cometh dread December.