O glad girls' faces, hushed and fair! how shall I sing for ye? <br />For the grave picture of a sphinx is all that I can see. <br /> <br /> <br />Vain is the driving of the sand, and vain the desert's art; <br />The years strive with her, but she holds the lion in her heart. <br /> <br /> <br />Baffled or fostered, patient still, the perfect purpose clings; <br />Flying or folded, strong as stone, she wears the eagle's wings. <br /> <br /> <br />Eastward she looks; against the sky the eternal morning lies; <br />Silent or pleading, veiled or free, she lifts the woman's eyes. <br /> <br /> <br />O grave girls' faces, listening kind! glad will I sing for ye, <br />While the proud figure of the sphinx is all that I can see.<br /><br />Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sphinx-4/
