Poem by Walter Savage Landor

Defiance

Catch her and hold her if you can--
See, she defies you with her fan,
Shuts, opens, and then holds it spread
In threatening guise over your head.
Ah! why did you not start before
She reached the porch and closed the door?
Simpleton! Will you never learn
That girls and time will not return;
Of each you should have made the most;
Once gone, they are forever lost.
In vain your knuckles knock your brow,
In vain will you remember how
Like a slim brook the gamesome maid
Sparkled, and ran into the shade.

1. Soon, O Ianthe! Life Is O'er
2. Dirce
3. Corinna, from Athens, to Tanagra
4. Past Ruin'd Ilion Helen Lives
5. Tell Me Not Things Past All Belief

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