Classic Poem

( TO AN OVER-STUDIOUS YOUNG WOMAN )

Come , dainty maid, come, leave your books,
And give the day to me;
Your knitted brow and distant looks
For these few hours let be.

Your beauty shall not always stay,
Your loveliness delight;
May even now hastes on her way
And sunshine leads to night.

The treasures of your mind and heart,
Got freely, freely give,
Nor follow Science when an Art
Allures you — how to live.

Upon your laboratory shelf
Let hidden problems wait;
Find the sweet mystery of yourself
Ere it evaporate.

Come, rest beside the singing stream;
Give me your rarest hour;
Till May, in blue and green, shall dream
You are another flower.