 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
73
ABSTRACT TO CONCRETE.
I
My Queen, I have not quite forgotten you—Though abstract thoughts have occupied my pen
Of late, I turn towards you now and then,
And never fail to find refreshment new;
As opens out a flower towards the blue
When early morning chases shades of night,
So when your beauty, sweet one, comes in sight
I put aside the work I had to do
And open out Imagination's arms
To grasp the graceful image that I see—
To grasp at all events the thought of thee.
That of itself a mind perturbèd calms,
And, exercising a magician's charms,
Bids pale Philosophy take wings and flee.
74
II
Philosophy is pale—she is a brideTo some who rosier lips have never seen,
Who never in the company have been,
Have never trodden, silent, at the side
Of Beauty; had they, they must have defied
Another to assert herself as Queen;
The Marble Goddess hath a countenance keen,
And she is gentle, and her hands are wide
In distribution, but—one day I saw,
I caught a glimpse, high seated in a wood,
Of Beauty, and I tell you she is good,
Fair as a rose, and free from any flaw,
And in a moment, lo! I loved her more
Than the other in a century any could.
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