BEAUTY like hers is genius. Not the call Of Homer's or of Dante's heart sublime,-- Not Michael's hand furrowing the zones of time,-- Is more with compassed mysteries musical; Nay, not in Spring's or Summer's sweet footfall More gathered gifts exuberant Life bequeathes Than doth this sovereign face, whose love-spell breathes Even from its shadowed contour on the wall. As many men are poets in their youth, But for one sweet-strung soul the wires prolong Even through all change the indomitable song; So in likewise the envenomed years, whose tooth Rends shallower grace with ruin void of ruth, Upon this beauty's power shall wreak no wrong. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CARELESS HEART by ISAAC ROSENBERG THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE SEA-MEW by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE WEST COUNTRY by ALICE CARY DIVINATION BY A DAFFADILL by ROBERT HERRICK |