To Chloe; On a Charge of Inconstancy

ON A CHARGE OF INCONSTANCY .

HOW can Chloe think it strange,
Time should make a lover change?
Time brings all things to an end,
Courage can't the blow defend.
See, the proud aspiring oak
Falls beneath the fatal stroke:
If on Beauty's cheek he preys,
Straight the rosy bloom decays:
Joy puts out his lambent fires,
And at Time's approach—expires.
?How can Chloe think it strange,
Time should make a lover change?