BEAUTY (so the poets say), Thou art joy and solace great; Long ago, and far away Thou art safe to contemplate, Beauty. But when now and here, Visible and close to touch, All too perilously near, Thou tormentest us too much! In a picture, in a song, In a novel's conjured scenes, Beauty, that's where you belong, Where perspective intervenes. But, my dear, in rosy fact Your appeal I have to shirk -- You disturb me, and distract My attention from my work! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LORD WALTER'S WIFE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING ZOLA by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON HEROES by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON CONTRETEMPS by GRACE STONE COATES DIRGE FOR FIDELE by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) TO HUGH THOMSON, WITH COPY OF SIR JOHN GILBERT'S SHAKESPEARE by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON |