Let A Florid Music Praise

Let a florid music praise,
    The flute and the trumpet,
Beauty’s conquest of your face:
In that land of flesh and bone,
Where from citadels on high
Her imperial standards fly,
      Let the hot sun
      Shine on, shine on.

O but the unloved have had power,
    The weeping and striking,
Always: time will bring their hour;
Their secretive children walk
Through your vigilance of breath
To unpardonable Death,
      And my vows break
      Before his look.