Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MENTAL BEAUTY, by JAMES GATES PERCIVAL Poet's Biography First Line: Beauty has gone, but yet her mind is still Last Line: Fruition, which in hope will never end. Subject(s): Beauty; Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals | ||||||||
BEAUTY has gone, but yet her mind is still As beautiful as ever; still the play Of light around her lips has every charm Of childhood in its freshness: Love has there Scamped his unfading impress, and the hues Of fancy shine around her, as the Sun Gilds at his setting some decaying tower, With feathered moss and ivy overgrown. I knew her in the dawning of her charms, When the new rose first opened, and its sweets No wind had wasted. She was of those forms Apelles might have painted for the Queen Of loveliness and love -- light as the fays Dancing on glimmering dew-drops, when the moon Rides in her silver softness, and the world Is calm and brightly beautiful below. She was all mildness, and the melting tone Of her sweet voice thrilled me, and seemed to flow Into my soul, a stream of melody, Delicious in its mellowness; it spake A heart at ease -- and then the quiet smile Sat playing on her lips, that pouting, spread, Their vermil freshness forth, as if to ask The kiss of him she smiled on. In her eye Gentleness had its dwelling, and light Mirth Glanced out in sudden flashes, and keen Wit Shot arrows which delighted, while they stung. She was a young Medusa, ere she knew The evil of a world that watched to blast Her loveliness, and make it terrible; Striking a dead cold horror on the heart Of him, who saw the fairest of all things, A lovely woman, made the common prey Of lawless passion -- but it touched not HER: No mist breathed o'er her brightness; but the pure Full light of virtue rested there, and shed New luster on the light that ever came Through her transparent features, and revealed Each movement of the soul that swelled within: And they were all of Heaven -- such high desires As angels had been proud of -- pure as light In its primeval fountain, ere it flowed To mingle with the elements, and lose Its perfect clearness. She was as a flower New opened in a valley, where no foot Had trodden, and no living thing had left Print of the world's pollution: there she blew Fragrant and lovely, and a parent's hand Shielded her from the winds that blast, or bring Poison upon their wings, and taint the heart Left open to their influence. Shielded there She ripened all her treasures, and became Full-blown and rich in her maturity -- The dwelling of a spirit, not of earth, But ever mingling with the pure and high Conceptions of a soul that spreads its wings To fly where Mind, when boldest, dared to soar. And though the form has withered, and the bloom Has faded, she is lovely; for the sounds That issue from her lips, and flow around In liquid eloquence, are oracles Of more than ancient wisdom, or they speak Portions of that full hymn of Poesy, Which ever rises when a mind on fire Blends with the majesty of outward things; And with the glories of a boundless Heaven, And a rich earth, and ever-rolling sea Communing, swells to that ineffable Fruition, which in hope will never end. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AGAINST EXCESS OF SEA OR SUN OR REASON by WILLIAM MEREDITH PROVISION FOR THE HIGHER OZONE BODY by WILL ALEXANDER THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#65) by MARVIN BELL THE MACHINATIONS OF THE MIND by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR WHY FOOL AROUND? by STEPHEN DOBYNS POPHAM OF THE NEW SONG: 1 by NORMAN DUBIE THE CORAL GROVE by JAMES GATES PERCIVAL |
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