Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BEAUTY TREADS SOFTLY, by ELEANOR G. R. YOUNG First Line: I am remembering an august night Last Line: "in each grateful heart." Subject(s): Beauty | ||||||||
I am remembering an August night A night of cool, damp stillness; A night with a hush of wonder Trembling through its hours. Before me, three exquisite buds Of alabaster whiteness, Of elusive, delicious fragrance Are unfolding In surprising order. Slowly, with elegant precision, Like a slender white princess Of Fairyland, A long bud parts its Many petaled lips And spills its heavy fragrance On the night. Peer as I will into the wonderland Of lacy stillness that lies just beyond I cannot see the flower's hidden heart Until the petals, Cool as blades of ice, Fall slowly back In orderly array At last the lovely chaliced bud unfurls And fairy spears fall noiselessly in place Perhaps tomorrow I shall hear it said: "Your Night-Blooming Cereus bore Three lovely blooms; too bad They do not last." "Oh, but they do," My heart is sure to sing. "Beauty, that treads so softly On the night, That is a miracle of loveliness, Can never fade: It lives forever In each grateful heart." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VARIATIONS: 14 by CONRAD AIKEN DIVINELY SUPERFLUOUS BEAUTY by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE BEAUTY OF THINGS by ROBINSON JEFFERS HOPE IS NOT FOR THE WISE by ROBINSON JEFFERS LIFE FROM THE LIFELESS by ROBINSON JEFFERS REARMAMENT by ROBINSON JEFFERS SHANE ONEILLS CAIRN by ROBINSON JEFFERS A YOUNG CHIEF RETURNS by ELEANOR G. R. YOUNG |
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