I once adored a woman's face And manly beauty gave me joy. But why delight in human grace? How soon it fades! How frail a toy! Once I saw heaven in sunny fields, On ocean's shore, on mountain sides. A mystic light nature still yields; But not for long man's sorrow hides. Dear saints -- a few such souls I've known -- Have shared with me their peace and light; But they have seemed so strange, alone, They gave me no prolonged delight. While of all these I make complaint, Still, still I seek a beauty rare, -- Of face and form, of nature, saint, -- But most a world redeemed from care. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COMPLAINS, BEING HIND'RED THE SIGHT OF HIS NYMPH by PHILIP AYRES SONNET (3) by JOACHIM DU BELLAY PEGGY'S WEDDING by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN THE POET by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT GOOD NIGHT IN THE PORCH by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON LINES TO MRS. KEMBLE, IN THE CHARACTER OF YARICO by ROBERT BURNS ON MR. CRUIKSHANK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH by ROBERT BURNS |