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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IMPROMPTU by FRANCOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE BERNIS

First Line: WHILE YOU WITH VIRTUE, SENSE, AND WIT COMBINE
Last Line: CAN THIS BE NAMED 'TO FALL'?
Subject(s): OLD AGE;
To a Lady who complained of being eighty years old.

WHILE you with virtue, sense, and wit combine,
Doris! that youth has fled, can you complain?
To-day the queen of intellect you shine,
As erst o'er love 'twas yours to reign.
Reflect how few find winters like your own.
In leaving you your mind, Time leaves you all.
Doris! you do but pass from throne to throne;
Can this be named 'to fall'?



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