Let on this head unfading flowers reside,
There bloom the vernal rose's earliest pride;
And when, our flames commissioned to destroy,
Age step 'twixt Love and me, and intercept the joy;
When my changed these locks no more shall know,
And all its petty honors turn to snow;
Then let me rightly spell of Nature's ways;
To Providence, to him my thoughts I'd raise,
And love as he throughout remaining days.”
—Gray.