Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Alexander Smith 1829–67

Beauty

BEAUTY still walketh on the earth and air,

Our present sunsets are as rich in gold

As ere the Iliad’s music was out-roll’d;

The roses of the Spring are ever fair,

’Mong branches green still ring-doves coo and pair,

And the deep sea still foams its music old.

So, if we are at all divinely soul’d,

This beauty will unloose our bonds of care.

’T is pleasant, when blue skies are o’er us bending

Within old starry-gated Poesy,

To meet a soul set to no worldly tune,

Like thine, sweet Friend! Oh, dearer this to me

Than are the dewy trees, the sun, the moon,

Or noble music with a golden ending.