| Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–47). The Poetical Works. 1880. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | The Frailty and Hurtfulness of Beauty |
| | | BRITTLE 1 beauty, that Nature made so frail, | |
| Whereof the gift is small, and short is the season; | |
| Flowering to-day, to-morrow apt to fail; | |
| Tickle treasure, abhorred of reason: | |
| Dangerous to deal with, vain, of none avail; | 5 |
| 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; | 10 |
| 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, to-morrow all to shaken. | |
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