Catch her and hold her if you can-- <br />See, she defies you with her fan, <br />Shuts, opens, and then holds it spread <br />In threatening guise over your head. <br />Ah! why did you not start before <br />She reached the porch and closed the door? <br />Simpleton! Will you never learn <br />That girls and time will not return; <br />Of each you should have made the most; <br />Once gone, they are forever lost. <br />In vain your knuckles knock your brow, <br />In vain will you remember how <br />Like a slim brook the gamesome maid <br />Sparkled, and ran into the shade.<br /><br />Walter Savage Landor<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/defiance-6/
