The controlling metaphor of Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" is that of life being like a rosebud. The speaker tells the young virgins to "gather ye rosebuds while ye may," urging them to understand the ephemeral nature of youth. Like the rosebud, the young women have only a short time in which they are beautiful and "when youth and blood are warmer."
Set in contrast to the workings of the universe, the youthful life of the young women is short, indeed. The sun "will his race to run" and will be setting; that is, life ends quickly. The rhyming of "first" with "worst" in the third stanza suggests this inevitability. So, in the last stanza, the speaker urges again the young, warm-blooded women to marry
For having lost but once your prime
You may forever tarry.
Opportunities to enjoy one's youth and beauty and passion are ephemeral when set against the span of nature; if the young virgins do not take advantage of these opportunities, they may lose their chances for happiness and fulfillment. For, like the rose, they will lose their beauty and youthfulness.
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