Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/188

Let bygones be bygones:
 Don't call me false, who owed not to be true:
I'd rather answer "No," to fifty Johns
  Than answer "Yes," to you.

Let's mar our pleasant days no more,
 Song-birds of passage, days of youth:
Catch at to-day, forget the days before:
  I'll wink at your untruth.

Let us strike hands as hearty friends;
 No more, no less; and friendship's good:
Only don't keep in view ulterior ends,
  And points not understood

In open treaty. Rise above
 Quibbles and shuffling off and on:
Here's friendship for you if you like; but love,—
  No, thank you, John.

BEAUTY IS VAIN.

WHILE roses are so red,
 While lilies are so white
Shall a woman exalt her face
 Because it gives delight?
She's not so sweet as a rose,
 A lily's straighter than she,
And if she were as red or white
 She'd be but one of three.