Corinna in Vendome by Pierre de Ronsard

Corinna in Vendome

Pierre de Ronsard (1524 – 1585) France

Translated by Robert Mezey

Darling, each morning a blooded rose

Lures the sunlight in, and shows

Her soft, moist and secret part.

See now, before you go to bed,

Her skirts replaced, her deeper red —

A colour much like yours, dear heart.

Alas, her petals will blow away,

Her beauties in a single day

Vanish like ashes on the wind.

O savage Time! that what we prize

Should flutter down before our eyes —

Who also, late or soon, descend.

Then scatter, darling, your caresses

While you may, and wear green dresses;

Gather roses, gather me —

Tomorrow, aching for your charms,

Death shall take you in his arms

And shatter your virginity.