Classic Poem

The Snows are thaw'd, now grass new cloaths the earth,
And Trees new hair thrust forth.
The Season's chang'd, and Brooks late swoln with rain,
Their proper bankes contain.
Nymphs with the Graces (linkt) dare dance around
Naked upon the ground.
That thou must dye, the year andhowers say
Which draw the winged day .
First Spring , then Summer that away doth chace,
And must it self give place
To Apple-bearing Autumne , and that past
Dull Winter comes at last.
But the decays of Time, Time doth repair:
When we once plunged are
Where good Æneas , where rich Ancus wades,
Ashes we are, and shades.
Who knows if Jove unto thy life's past score
Will add one morning more?
When thou art dead, and Rhadamanthus just
Sentence hath spoke thee dust,
Thy Blood, nor eloquence can ransome thee,
No nor thy Piety,
For chast Hippolytus in Stygian night
Diana cannot light:
Nor Theseus break with all his vertuous pains
His dear Perithous chains.