Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PREFERENCE, by CATHERINE LE MASTER ECKRICH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PREFERENCE, by                    
First Line: I do not like to look too deep
Last Line: A truth I'd wish I did not know.
Subject(s): Beauty; Perception


I do not like to look too deep,
In Beauty's personal store, but keep
A cursory watch, content to see
The threadbare field, the glassy tree,
The circling vista of the plain,
Uncritical of dust and stain.

It is not virtue and not duty,
To meddle with the sum of Beauty;
Not meet and not expedient,
To probe each frail ingredient.

I cannot think it wise to pry
Beneath the scope of casual eye;
Nor does it seem discreet to look
Too long into a melting brook,
Or pierce the gleaming winter sheath
On wild plum bark, lest underneath
Some blighted, rotting branch may show
A truth I'd wish I did not know.





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