 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
126
THE SUPERNAL LOVELINESS.
I
Outside a wood upon a summer mornMen were disputing—“Why, I saw her plain,”
Said one, “a violet robe—without a stain
Was hers, and in her hand a lily borne—”
“Nay, but she held a golden hunting horn,”
The second said; the third—“She did retain
A rose;” and yet another—“there remain
Red poppies in her hair and plaited corn;”
The tale of each was different, and I thought
The wonder that the Fairy of the Wood
In honest truth-desiring minds has wrought
In every poet's fancy is made good,
For Beauty we have seen, yet never could
Agree as to the panoply she brought;
128
II
Nor as to Love, nor as to Music; theseBurn in upon our souls in varied guise,
As I have seen the shades of woman's eyes
Shift delicately lookers on to please;
Love hath the savour of a southern breeze
To one, the tinting of the northern skies
To another, and the musically wise
Before a changeful goddess on their knees
Bend rapturously; not to two alike
Is the Ideal Ecstasy afforded,
Behold! the fairy vision I have hoarded
On you with face as different may strike
As is the land one loves of marsh and dyke
From mountains by another's longing lauded.
129
III
They have seen her in the wood and they confessThat she is beautiful and queen of hearts,
But as to e'en the colour of her darts,
Still more the fairy fashion of her dress,
They are divided, for one lays the stress
Upon the folding which her bosom parts,
Another at her grace of girdle starts,
A third it may be worships none the less
The massing of her hair, so in the end
Reports must differ—but they come to me,
And as I am a poet I can see
What each man sees, and satisfied can send
These wayfarers to supplicate and bend
Before my including Beauty's perfect knee.
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