Be not vain, oh, beautiful maiden!
Though thine eyes shine like violets blue,
THough thy lips are as rosebuds from Eden
And thy curls vie with sunbeams in hue.
Remember that violets will wither,
That rosebuds will fade and decay;
For beauty cannot last forever,
'Twill fade with the sunbeams away.
Is there time for false pride and vain pleasure,
Is there time in this life's little day,
When the few golden hours that we treasure
Are silently slipping away?
When hearts that were happy at dawning,
Ere evening are shrouded in gloom;
When all the fresh dewdrops of morning
Have passed from our sight ere 'tis noon?
Life is not, sweet maiden, all beauty,
Nor is it a bright, gilded dream;
We all have a life-work, a duty,
And earth's things are more than they seem.
We may think that the days that have vanished
Forever have passed and are o'er,
But the golden grain has not been garnered,
The harvest time lieth before.
Our lives, they are not a mere story,
Our labor will not be in vain,
But bathed in a sunlight of glory
These lost hours will blossom again.
Be good and do good, Time may rob thee
Of beauty ere many years roll;
But eternity cannot destroy
A beautiful immortal soul.
