WHY should the world be apt to censure me? Wherein have I offended that I sought To grace my mind with jewels dearly bought, Nor turned my heart to jeweled vanity? From greed of riches I am fancy-free; But deem no work of fancy fairly wrought Till crowned with diamonds from the mine of thought, That worth my wealth, not wealth my worth, may be. I am not Beauty's votary. I know Her conquests fall a spoil to age at last: I find no joy in money's gaudy show; For gold like chaff into the furnace cast Fits but to feed Art's flame, and keep the glow Of golden Truth a glory unsurpassed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RUGBY CHAPEL by MATTHEW ARNOLD REBEL MOTHER'S LULLABY by SHANE LESLIE CHRISTUS CONSOLATOR by ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 74 by PHILIP SIDNEY ROMANCE by WALTER JAMES REDFERN TURNER REVEL by ABUL HASAN OF SANTA MARIA THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION; A POEM. ENLARGED VERSION: BOOK 4 by MARK AKENSIDE |