white and cold and cruel

?Young man,
Seize every minute
Of your time.
The days fly by;
Ere long you too
Will grow old.

If you believe me not,
See there, in the courtyard,
How the frost
Glitters white and cold and cruel
On the grass
That once was green.?

?Tzu Yeh, The Frost; from The Moment of Wonder: A Collection of Chinese and Japanese Poetry, edited by Richard Lewis, 1964.