| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Beauty |
| | | Alexander Smith (1829–67) |
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| 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, | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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. | |
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