University of Virginia Library


744

THE CURSE OF BEAUTY.

When beauty only sees itself in all,
And has no thought of bliss beyond its own,
And hears in every voice a flattering call,
To come and woo or worship at its throne;
If praise of others is as bitter gall,
And jealousy comes in when peace has flown,
To rule and ravine in self-love alone,
Its fate is deadlier than its very fall.
But darker, deadlier is its lot at last,
When adulation's airs become a blast,
That blights the fruitful promise of its joys;
When even praise from its own surfeit cloys,
While flattery's sweetness is a pleasure past,
And what delights at first in time destroys.