SONNET.—BEAUTY.
BY WM. ALEXANDER.
Beauty—'tis but a beam, a flickering flame,
A flower that withers, whose gay colors die;
Such, erst, was Helen's, of historic fame,
Such thine, fair lady of the diamond eye.
As fades the lily on the water's breast,
So fades thy color, shown thee in thy glass;
As fade the flowers wherewith thy head is drest,
So quick away thy beauty too shall pass.
Love, golden-winged, away doth quickly fly,
When Time's dark pinions heard are flapping near,
And thou, deformed, art left all suddenly,
Who, erewhile, wert to thy acquaintance dear.
"This skull is Helen's"—beauteous relic this,
Of her so famed for form and loveliness.