To Rosa by Abraham Lincoln

You are young, and I am older;
You are hopeful, I am not –
Enjoy life, ere it grow colder –
Pluck the roses ere they rot.

Teach your beau to heed the lay –
That sunshine soon is lost in shade –
That now's as good as any day –
To take thee, Rosa, ere she fade.

More from Abraham Lincoln:

• The Bear Hunt
• My Childhood Home I See Again
• The Gettysburg Address
• Verse On Lee’s Invasion Of The North
• To Linnie
• Abraham Lincoln