As a midsummer rose

All worldly thing ^/es braideth* upon time:
The sunn ^/e chaungeth, so doth the pale moon,
Th' aureate number in calends** set for prime.
Fortune is double, doth favour for no boon;
And who that hath with that queen to doon,
Contrariously she will his chaunce dispose:
Who sitteth highest most like to fall soon –
All stant on chaunge like a midsummer rose.

The golden char* of Phoebus in the air
Chaseth mists black that they dare not appear,
At whose uprist mountains be made so fair
As they were newly gilt with his beams clear;
The night doth follow, appalleth all his cheer,**
When western waves his stream ^/es over-close.
Reckon all beauty, all freshness that is here –
All stant on chaunge like a midsummer rose.

Constraint of cold ^/e maketh flowr ^/es dare,*
With winter frosts that they dare not appear;
All clad in russet the soil of green is bare.
Tellus and Jove** be dullèd of their cheer
By revolution and turning of the year:
As gery March his stond ^/es*** doth disclose:
Now rain, now storm, now Phoebus bright and clear –
All stant on chaunge like a midsummer rose.

Where is now David, most worthy king
Of all Juda, most famous and notáble?
Where is Salomon most sovereign of cunning,*
Richest of building, of treasure incomparáble?
Face of Absolon, most fair, most aimiáble?
Reckon up each one, of truth ^/e make no glose;**
Reckon up Jonathas, of friendship immutáble –
All stant on chaunge like a midsummer rose.

Where is Julius, proudest in his empire
With his triumph ^/es most imperiál?
Where is Pyrrhus, that was lord and sire
Of all Ind ^/e in his estate royál?
And where is Alexander that conquered all,
Failèd leiser* his testament to dispose?
Nabugodonosor or Sardanapal?
All stant on chaunge like a midsummer rose.

Where is Tullius with his sugared tongue?
Or Chrysostomus with his golden mouth?
The aureate ditties that be read and sung,
Of Omerus in Greece both north and south?*
The tragedi ^/es divers and and uncouth
Of moral Senec,** the mystery ^/es to unclose?
By many example this matter is full couth:***
All stant on chaunge like a midsummer rose.

st 1 *braideth: change; **calends: calendars. (The 'golden number' is used to calculate the date of Easter.)
st 2 *char: chariot; **cheer: face, countenance
st 3 *dare: remain concealed; **Tellus and Jove: earth and heaven; ***gery: changeable; stond ^/e;s: times, intervals.
st 4 *cunning: knowledge; **glose: deception
st 5 *Failèd leiser: lacked leisure, ran out of time.
st 6 *Omerus: Homer; **Senec: Seneca; ***couth: known.

John Lydgate (c. 1370–c.1450)

from As a Mydsomer Rose (1430s)


<link>