Love’s Emblem

Go rose, my Chloe’s bosom grace:
  How happy should I prove,
  Could I supply that envied place
  With never-fading love.

Accept, dear maid, now Summer glows,
  This pure, unsullied gem,
  Love’s emblem in a full-blown rose,
  Just broken from the stem.

Accept it as a favourite flower
  For thy soft breast to wear;
  ’Twill blossom there its transient hour,
  A favourite of the fair.

Upon thy cheek its blossom glows,
  As from a mirror clear,
  Making thyself a living rose,
  In blossom all the year.

It is a sweet and favourite flower
  To grace a maiden’s brow,
  Emblem of love without its power—
  A sweeter rose art thou.

The rose, like hues of insect wing,
  May perish in an hour;
  ’T is but at best a fading thing,
  But thou’rt a living flower.

The roses steeped in morning dews
  Would every eye enthrall,
  But woman, she alone subdues;
  Her beauty conquers all.