Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Sonnet. Brittle Beauty that Nature made so frail.

HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY

THE FRAILTY AND HURTFULNESS OF
BEAUTY.¹

BRITTLE beauty, that Nature made so frail,
Whereof the gift is small, and short the season ;
Flowering to-day, to-morrow apt to fail ;
Tickle treasure, abhorred of reason :
Dangerous to deal with, vain, of none avail ;
Costly in keeping, past not worth two peason ;²
Slipper in sliding, as is an eel's tail ;
Hard to obtain, once gotten, not geason :³
Jewel of jeopardy, that peril doth assail ;
False and untrue, enticed oft to treason ;
Enemy to youth, that most may I bewail ;
Ah ! bitter sweet, infecting as the poison,
Thou farest as fruit that with the frost is taken ;
To-day ready ripe, tomorrow all to-shaken.

¹ In the Harrington MS. this poem
is attributed to Lord Vaux.
² Two pease.
³ Rare, or uncommon.

Source:
Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of.
The Poetical Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854. 13.

to Works of Henry Howard