T'was but a dream, so swift and fleeting
A beauty that melts with a season's turn
Youth and age all too soon found a' meeting
Brief respite 'fore a bliss'd dreams' adjourn

Though once as fresh as a summers' breeze
Bright colors have faded and turned to ash
Pride long since locked 'way with forgotten keys
Memories of old, lived in a painful flash

Once, I scoff'd at a beauty distilled
I spent a life like a day spends it hours
Cheaply and quickly, no whim unfulfilled
Yet, sweet milk left under sun, now sours

'Tis much too late to incur any yield
Spoiled and rotted, my fate all but sealed