Констанс Каролина Вудхилл Нэден (Constance Caroline Woodhill Naden)

Beauty

ETERNAL Beauty, Truth's interpreter,
Is bound by no austere æsthetic creed;
All forms of art she uses at her need,
And e'en unlovely things are slaves to her:
And we, whose hearts her lightest breath can stir,
Must prize her flowers, whoe'er has sown the seed,
And love each noble picture, song, or deed,
Whose soul is true, although the form should err.

She is God's servant, but the queen of man,
Who fondly dreams she lives for him alone,
And while her power is felt through time and space,
Proclaims her priestess of some petty clan,
Catching but transient glimpses of a face
Veiled in rich vestures, loved but still unknown.