Henry Austin Dobson Quote

The ladies of St. James's!
They're painted to the eyes;
Their white it stays forever,
Their red it never dies:
But Phyllida, my Phyllida!
Her color comes and goes;
It trembles to a lily—
It wavers to a rose.

The Ladies of St. James's (1883), st. 4. In: At the sign of the lyre