Answer:
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
Step-by-step explanation:
A. E. Housman's elegy "To an Athlete Dying Young" talks of the mortality of man and how everything is insignificant in front of death. The poem deals with the themes of victory, death, transience, youth, etc.
From the first four stanzas of the poem, the third stanza emphasizes temporary fame and prestige. In this stanza, the speaker reveals how "glory does not stay" and "though the laurel grows, it withers quicker than the rose." These two lines seem to signal the temporary nature of fame and prestige, which all seem insignificant and useless when a person dies.