 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
226
ART-INFLUENCES.
Ah! do they—can they? rather would they hideIn creature-fairness the Creator's face,
Pampering man's indomitable pride
To stand alone, unhelp'd of God and grace:
How few behold their Father in this place,—
On all those pleasant pictures note His skill,
In all these marvellous works of human will
His force creative, and high wisdom trace!
Alas, that good is overgrown with ill;
Alas, that very weariness of eye,
Quite surfeited of beauty, power, and taste,
With listless lingering, or careless haste
Provokes to scorn, or colder to pass by
Too many merits flung around in waste.
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |