So cool, so calm, these graceful lanes of grass. No stir but where the fluted ivy falls In ruffled petticoats from granite walls And trembles soft when gypsy breezes pass. No keeper taught these tender trees to mass In dark wet shadow where the earthworm crawls And furry lichens spread their molded shawls, And yet, what canopy can this surpass? Before I knew this place of quiet green I thought that beauty blew a scarlet blast Upon a golden trumpet; now, at last, I know that beauty often comes unseen And stands close by, unheralded and mean -- Resplendent in the plainest image cast. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN A SWEDISH GRAVEYARD by EMMA LAZARUS MY AUNT by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE MAY MAGNIFICAT by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE DIRGE [FOR FIDELE], FR. CYMBELINE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE VICTORY by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA |