| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | These Flowers, Whose Pomp | | By Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681) |
| | Translated by Arthur Platt
From El Principe Constante
THESE flowers, whose pomp was joyous to behold, | |
| When the white dawn awoke them out of sleep, | |
| At eve shall be a ruin fit to weep, | |
| Lulled in the darkling night’s embraces cold. | |
| This posy bright with listed hues of gold, | 5 |
| Snow-white and purple, rivalling heaven’s bow, | |
| Will be a warning to our life below; | |
| So doth one day its little life enfold. | |
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| To flower, the rose displayed her buds at morn, | |
| And to grow old and wither, did she flower; | 10 |
| One is her cradle and her grave forlorn. | |
| So men behold brief fortune’s earthly dower, | |
| To die upon the day when they were born, | |
| For the past ages are but as an hour. | | | | |
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