KEEP BEAUTY FROM FADING When all your face appears most fair, When the comets and meteors gild your hair,
And in your eyes the moon and sun Contest, surrender, and burn as one,
When ivory Venus smoothes your brow, And Mars recurves your lips' red bow,
Make haste to utter this binding verse And hold the stars on their kindest course...
"Figure of fire, That shift and change, Planets that move By heaven's hinge,
Be signed and fixed Forever here, And close my image Within thy sphere"
Measure a yard of golden string, Loose from your fingers let it swing,
Then tie it in thirteen sturdy knots, Hide it among your scents and pots.