 | Benoni |  |
68
SCENT AND JEWELS.
Lady, why blend these dying sweets
With that immortal sweetness all thine own?
Why ask of Art her counterfeits—
Her languid cloying odours—but to crown
That ever-deepening, ever-mellowing bloom
Whose very presence is perfume?
With that immortal sweetness all thine own?
Why ask of Art her counterfeits—
Her languid cloying odours—but to crown
That ever-deepening, ever-mellowing bloom
Whose very presence is perfume?
Dost thou mistrust thine ardent eyes
And that deep glow of soul indwelling there,
That with these rival galaxies
Of glimmering gems thou hast bedew'd thy hair?
Or dost thou stoop to those who equal deem
The innate lustre and the surface-gleam?
And that deep glow of soul indwelling there,
That with these rival galaxies
Of glimmering gems thou hast bedew'd thy hair?
Or dost thou stoop to those who equal deem
The innate lustre and the surface-gleam?
69
The clear starr'd purple overhead
Brooks not her virgin trueness should be soil'd
With false and fever'd glare and red
Of mocking meteors; of their thrones despoiled
She shoots them down in scorn, to find i' the Earth
Some miry home more level with their birth:
Brooks not her virgin trueness should be soil'd
With false and fever'd glare and red
Of mocking meteors; of their thrones despoiled
She shoots them down in scorn, to find i' the Earth
Some miry home more level with their birth:
So do thou ever prize, like her,
The simple majesty of maidenhood;
And in calm wrath the odours tear
And soulless jewels from thee: upstart brood
Unblest! and only let thy cool white brow
For ever wear the light of its own stainless snow.
The simple majesty of maidenhood;
And in calm wrath the odours tear
And soulless jewels from thee: upstart brood
Unblest! and only let thy cool white brow
For ever wear the light of its own stainless snow.
| Benoni | |