TO KEEP BEAUTY FROM FADING
When all your face appears most fair,
When the comets and meteors gild your hair,
And in your eyes the moon and sun
Contest, surrender, and burn as one,
When ivory Venus smoothes your brow,
And Mars reserves your lips' red bow,
Make haste to utter this binding verse
And hold the stars on their kindest course...
"Figure of fire,
That shift and change,
Planets that move
By heaven's hinge,
Be sighed and fixed
Forever here,
And close my image
Within thy sphere"
Measure a yard of golden string,
Loose from your fingers let it swing,
Then tie it in thirteen sturdy knots,
Hide it among your scents and pots.