Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BE NOT AFRAID OF BEAUTY, by EDWARD SAPIR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BE NOT AFRAID OF BEAUTY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Be not afraid of beauty when
Last Line: And waste your heart away.
Subject(s): Beauty; Fear


Be not afraid of Beauty when
Beauty, the lovely-eyed,
Fawnlike looks into your eye
On solitary pride.

Be then not halted to a stone
Of silence and high fear,
Nor send gulls desolate upon
The dusky sea to peer.

Seek out the voice within her eyes,
Which is music of bells,
And what the far wind, gathering,
Through the hair blowing tells.

She will not otherwise into
The wondering ear give word,
She who has words her own, lovely,
But will have them deferred,

Than if, having all done with fear,
You take her by the hand
And lead her, being led by her,
To her own woodland.

Here there is broken sun that falls
Through birch-tree lanes,
And the soft melody of winds
In silvery moon -- rains,

And starry waiting for the dawn,
And twilight floating on
The water smouldering before
The yellow burst of sun.

The candle burning in the sky
Flares down into the wood

For the dim owls that brood.

Take her softly by the hand
And walk illuminate
Through mossy maze amid the chatter
And flutter of birds elate.

Be not afraid of Beauty when
Beauty, the lovely-eyed,
Has lost you in her witch's wood
And vanished from your side.

She has no fouler witch's art
Than all the night and day
To whisper in your aching heart,
To sing within your aching heart
And waste your heart away.





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