Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585)

Translated by Andrew Lang

AS in the gardens, all through May, the rose,

Lovely, and young, and fair apparellèd,

Makes sunrise jealous of her rosy red,

When dawn upon the dew of dawning glows;

Graces and Loves within her breast repose,

The woods are faint with the sweet odour shed,

Till rains and heavy suns have smitten dead

The languid flower, and the loose leaves unclose,—

So this, the perfect beauty of our days,

When earth and heaven were vocal of her praise,

The fates have slain, and her sweet soul reposes;

And tears I bring, and sighs, and on her tomb

Pour milk, and scatter buds of many a bloom,

That dead, as living, she may be with roses.