Go, lovely rose

Go, lovely Rose! --

Tell her, that wastes her time and me,

That now she knows,

When I resemble her to thee,

How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that's young,

And shuns to have her graces spied

That hadst thou sprung

In deserts, where no men abide,

Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth

Of beauty from the light retir'd;

Bid her come forth,

Suffer herself to be desir'd,

And not blush so to be admir'd.

Then die! -- that she

The common fate of all things rare

May read in thee:

How small a part of time they share

That are so wondrous sweet and fair!

Yet though thou fade,

From thy dead leaves let fragrance rise;

And teach the maid

That goodness time's rude hand defies;

That virtue lives when beauty dies.