Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms - The Moorings

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms

Which I gaze on so fondly to-day

Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms

Like fairy-gifts fading away

Thou wouldst still be ador’d, as this moment thou art

Let thy loveliness fade as it will

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear

That the fervour and faith of a soul can be known

To which time will but make thee more dear;

No, the heart that has truly lov’d never forgets

But as truly loves on to the close

As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets

The same look which she turn’d when he rose