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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EMIGRANT LASSIE by JOHN STUART BLACKIE LYNCHED NEGRO by MAXWELL BODENHEIM A TALE OF VILLAFRANCA; TOLD IN TUSCANY by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING DON QUIXOTE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON WAR-TIME IN THE MOUNTAINS by ANN COBB |