Brittle beauty that nature made so frail,
Whereof the gift is small, and short the season,
Flowering today, tomorrow apt to fail,
Tickle treasure, abhorred of reason, [fragile]
Dangerous to deal with, vain, of none avail,
Costly in keeping, passed not worth two peason, [peas]
Slipper in sliding as is an eel's tail, [slippery]
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:
Today ready ripe, tomorrow all to-shaken. [broken]
Brittle Beauty
written byHenry Howard
© Henry Howard