Sweet Day, so cool, so calm, so bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky:

The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,

For thou with all thy sweets must die!

Sweet Rose, so fragrant and so brave,

Dazzling the rash beholder’s eye:

Thy root is ever in its grave,

And thou with all thy sweets must die!

Sweet Spring, so beauteous and so gay,

Storehouse, where sweets unnumber’d lie:

Not long thy fading glories stay,

But thou with all thy sweets must die!

Only a sweet and virtuous mind,

When Nature all in ruins lies,

When earth and heaven a period find,

Begins a life that never dies.