Anna Hempstead Branch

While Loveliness Goes by

Sometimes  when all the world seems grey and dun  
And nothing beautiful, a voice will cry,  
"Look out, look out! Angels are drawing nigh!"  
Then my slow burdens leave me one by one,  
And swiftly does my heart arise and run          
Even like a child while loveliness goes by—  
And common folk seem children of the sky,  
And common things seem shapèd of the sun.  
Oh, pitiful! that I who love them, must  
So soon perceive their shining garments fade!    
And slowly, slowly, from my eyes of trust  
Their flaming banners sink into a shade!  
While this earth's sunshine seems the golden dust  
Slow settling from that radiant cavalcade.