Classic Poem

WHEREIN SHE MUST BE SEEN BEFORE JEALOUS TIME CANCELS HER INCREDIBLE BEAUTY

He that desires to see the height of Nature
And Heaven as well, let him regard my Sun,
Sole luminary, not in my song alone,
But to the world — that blind enamoured creature!
But swift! For Death upon the loveliest feature
Fastens his beak, yet loathsome things will shun;
Heaven grows impatient for this paragon,
And bright things build in Time the briefest stature.
O hasten and behold! lest Time repeal
Virtue and beauty and a royal mind
In one rich union lavishly combined!
Then shall you murmur how my verses reel,
Drowned in that light whose lustre dazzles blind —
Who dallies must lament his laggard heel!