In the angry, fiery gloom Of my weirdly lighted room, Where the bottles and the trays Skulk in those sardonic rays, And the vague apartment seems Like a glimpse of nightmare dreams, Here, in this uncanny cell, Lo, a lovely miracle! Square of glass, a milky white, Vacant to my dullard sight; Flow of liquid made to pass Vacant on the vacant glass; And a waiting reverent While God takes His instrument; Then, with hush of solemn awe, See the mystic Artist draw! See the plate, as vaguely dark Slowly growing outlines mark -- Like a shadow from his mind -- What the Artist has designed. See the pencil delicate Moving on the expectant plate, Here a stroke and there a touch, None too little or too much; Slow at first, then faster sent, As the Artist grows intent; Faster yet and still more fast, Flashing marvels at the last, Till upon the living glass Shines the tree and bends the grass; Till I see the waters cool Plash in yonder pleasant pool; Till upon the background rare Grows the fairest of the fair, Grows the picture's central grace, -- Dear Miranda's star-lit face! Artist Lord of loveliness, Need I tremble to confess Here, before this inner shrine Of Thy workmanship divine, How that face which Thou hast made Dims the pride of sun and shade, How this glimpse of her I love Draws my thoughts from Thee above? Hark! a whisper in my ear: "Lover, lover, do not fear. I am Artist, none but I, Of the joys beneath the sky. Here my lower art you praise, Seeing not the secret rays That upon your willing heart Stamped your lover's counterpart, Nor the mystic bath that drew This hid portrait into view, Nor the hand whose workmanship Pencilled brow and eye and lip. Lover, lover, do not fear. I am Lord of beauty's sphere. Am I jealous to upbraid Those that love what I have made?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEFT-HANDED POEM by JAMES GALVIN MADAGASCAR: AUBADE by WILLIAM DAVENANT THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by ROBERT FROST THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION; A POEM. ENLARGED VERSION: BOOK 3 by MARK AKENSIDE POSTHUMOUS by HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS MODERN MOSES, OR 'MY POLICY' MAN by JAMES MADISON BELL |