Comes the broken flower - <br />Comes the cheated maid - <br />Though the tempest lower, <br />Rain and cloud will fade! <br />Take, O maid, these posies: <br />Though thy beauty rare <br />Shame the blushing roses, <br />They are passing fair! <br />Wear the flowers till they fade; <br />Happy be thy life, O maid! <br /> <br />O'er the season vernal, <br />Time may cast a shade; <br />Sunshine, if eternal, <br />Makes the roses fade: <br />Time may do his duty; <br />Let the thief alone - <br />Winter hath a beauty <br />That is all his own. <br />Fairest days are sun and shade: <br />Happy be thy life, O maid!<br /><br />William Schwenck Gilbert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/solatium/
