Page:Florian - The Fables, 1888.djvu/64

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
58
FLORIAN'S FABLES.

To love and please was all my thought;
But what delusion it has brought!
I still love on, just as before,
But then I'm lov'd in turn no more."

"I'm not so badly off as you,"
The linnet said; "for though 'tis true
I'm growing old, with loss of voice,
Yet still in music I rejoice,
And when with her wild magic trills
The nightingale the forest fills,
Beguiling all the weary night,
Her sweet song fills me with delight."

Though beauty is a gift divine,
Yet its possession may not bless;
Its charms with merit must combine
To prove a source of happiness:
             It fades away,
             While talents stay
And please e'en when our own decay.