 | The Poetical Works of Sydney Dobell |  |
343
ON A RECENTLY FINISHED STATUE.
1854.
Said Sculptor to immaculate marble—‘Show
Thine essence; into necessary space
Most pure describe thine unshaped Purity!’
And lo this Image! As a bubble blown,
Swiftly her charms, dilating, went through all
The zones of sphered Perfection, till the stone
Smiled as to speak. Some coming thought half-shown
Forms on her parting lips, so that her face
Is as a white flow'r whence a drop of dew,
White with the fragrant flow'r, inclines to fall.
‘Oh Everlasting Silence keep her so!
Immortalise this moment, lest she grow
To such a living substance as can die!’
He cried. Consent Eternal heard his cry.
| The Poetical Works of Sydney Dobell | |