The Frailty and Hurtfulness of Beauty

BRITTLE beauty, that Nature made so frail,

Whereof the gift is small, and short is the season;

Flowering to-day, to-morrow apt to fail;

Tickle treasure, abhorred of reason:

Dangerous to deal with, vain, of none avail;

Costly in keeping, past not worth two peason;

Slipper in sliding, as is an eel’s tail;

Hard to obtain, once gotten, not geason:

Jewel of jeopardy, that peril doth assail;

False and untrue, enticed oft to treason;

Enemy to youth, that most may I bewail;

Ah! bitter sweet, infecting as the poison,

Thou farest as fruit that with the frost is taken;

To-day ready ripe, to-morrow all to shaken.