Verses on Receiving a Flower from a Lady

Madam, the flower that I received from you,
Ere I came home, had lost its lovely hue :
As flowers deprived of the genial day,
Its sprightly bloom did wither and decay :
Dear, fading flower, I know full well, said I,
The reason that you shed your sweets and die ;
You want the influence of her enlivening eye.
Your case is mine : absence, that plague of love !
With heavy pace makes every minute move :
It of my being is an empty blank,
And hinders me myself with men to rank ;
Your cheering presence quickens me again,
And new-sprung life exults in every vein.