The charms which blooming beauty shews
From faces heavenly fair,
We to the lily and the rose
With semblance apt compare.
With semblance apt; for ah! how soon
How soon they all decay,
The lily droops, the rose is gone
And beauty fades away —
But when bright virtue sins confest
With sweet discretion join’d;
When mildness calms the peaceful breast
And wisdom guides the mind
When charms, like these, dear maid, conspire
Thy person to approve,
They kindle generous chaste desire
And everlasting love.
Beyond the reach of time or fate
There graces shall endure
Still like the passion they create
Eternal. Constant. Pure.