Why slightest thou what I approve? Thou art no Peer to try my love, Nor canst discern where her form lies, Unless thou saw'st her with my eyes. Say she were foul and blacker than The Night, or sunburnt African, If lik'd by me, 'tis I alone Can make a beauty where was none; For rated in my fancy, she is so as she appears to me. But 'tis not feature, or a face, That does my free election grace, Nor is my liking only led By a well-temper'd white and red; Could I enamour'd grow on those, The Lily and the blushing Rose United in one stalk might be As dear unto my thoughts as she. But I look farther, and do find A richer beauty in her mind; Where something is so lasting fair, As time or age cannot impair. Hadst thou a perspective so clear, Thou couldst behold my object there; When thou her virtues shouldst espy, They'd force thee to confess that I Had cause to like her, and learn thence To love by judgement, not by sense. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PORTRAIT OF A BABY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THREE SPRING NOTATIONS ON BIPEDS by CARL SANDBURG AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM by ALEXANDER POPE THE MEETING by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE RELAPSE by JOSEPH BEAUMONT PSALM 2. QUARE FREMUERUNT GENTES by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE WHAT'S IN A NAME by BERTON BRALEY |