Who will in fairest book of Nature know How virtue may best lodged in beauty be, Let him but learn of love to read in thee, Stella, those fair lines which true goodness show. There shall he find all vices' overthrow, Not by rude force, but sweetest sovereignty Of reason, from whose light those night birds fly, That inward sun in thine eyes shineth so. And, not content to be perfection's heir Thyself, dost strive all minds that way to move, Who mark in thee what is in thee most fair. So while thy beauty draws the heart to love, As fast thy virtue bends that love to good. "But ah," Desire still cries, "give me some food." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BURDEN OF NINEVEH by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI SONNET ON CATHERINE WORDSWORTH by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR by LAURA F. ARMITAGE OFF BARNEGAT by ETHEL LYNN BEERS AN EVENING PROSPECT by ANN ELIZA BLEECKER |