THE FLOWER THAT SMILES TODAY

The flower that smiles today
Tomorrow dies;
All that we wish to stay
Tempts and then flies;
What is the world’s delight?
Lightning that mocks the night,
Brief even as bright.

Virtue, how frail it is!
Friendship, how rare!
Love, how it sells poor bliss
For proud despair!
But these, so soon they fall,
Survive their joy and all
Which ours we call.

Whilst skies are blue and bright,
Whilst flowers are gay,
Whilst eyes that change ere night
Make glad the day;
Whilst yet the calm hours creep,
Dream thou—and from thy sleep
Then wake to weep.


--Percy Bysshe Shelley