All perfect things are saddening in effect.

The autumn wood robed in its scarlet clothes,

The matchless tinting on the royal rose

Whose velvet leaf by no least flaw is flecked,

Love's supreme moment, when the soul unchecked

Soars high as heaven, and its best rapture knows—

These hold a deeper pathos than our woes,

Since they leave nothing better to expect.

Resistless change, when powerless to improve,

Can only mar. The gold will pale to gray;

Nothing remains tomorrow as to-day;

The lose will not seem quite so fait, and love

Must find its measures of delight made less.

Ah, how imperfect is all Perfectness!