21

"Why do Summer Roses Fade?"

WHY do summer roses fade?
If not to show how fleeting,
All things bright and fair are made,
To bloom awhile as half afraid,
To join our summer greeting?
Or do they only bloom to tell,
How brief a season love may dwell,
Or so they only bloom to tell,
How brief a season love may swell?

Then while summer roses last,
Oh! let's be friends together;
Summer time will soon be past,
When autumn leaves around us cast,
And then comes wintry weather,
Surely as the summer's day,
Friendship too will pass away.

But though summer rose die,
And love given place to reason,
Friendship pass without a sigh,
And all on earth pass coldly by,
It's but a wintry season.
And friendship, love, and roses too
The spring-time shall again renew.