Ah, who can look on that celestial face, And kindred for it claim with aught on earth? If ever here more lovely form had birth, -- No, never that supernal purity, -- that grace So eloquent of unimpassioned love! That, by a simple movement, thus imparts Its own harmonious peace, the while our hearts Rise, as by instinct, to the world above. And yet we look on cold, unconscious stone. But what is that which thus our spirits own As Truth and Life? 'T is not material Art, -- But e'en the Sculptor's soul to sense unsealed. O, never may he doubt, -- its witness so revealed, -- There lives within him an immortal part! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JEANIE MORRISON by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL MORAL ESSAYS: EPISTLE 2. TO A LADY: OF THE CHARACTERS OF WOMEN by ALEXANDER POPE THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 36. LIFE-IN-LOVE by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI JAPANESE MAPLES by JENNIE SCOTT ARNOLD FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: SORROW by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THOUGHTS ON THE SHAPE OF THE HUMAN BODY by RUPERT BROOKE BEELZEBUB AND JOB; EPIGRAM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |