Under the arch of Life, where love and death, <br />Terror and mystery, guard her shrine, I saw <br />Beauty enthroned; and though her gaze struck awe, <br />I drew it in as simply as my breath. <br />Hers are the eyes which, over and beneath, <br />The sky and sea bend on thee,—which can draw, <br />By sea or sky or woman, to one law, <br />The allotted bondman of her palm and wreath. <br /> <br />This is that Lady Beauty, in whose praise <br />Thy voice and hand shake still,—long known to thee <br />By flying hair and fluttering hem,—the beat <br />Following her daily of thy heart and feet, <br />How passionately and irretrievably, <br />In what fond flight, how many ways and days!<br /><br />Dante Gabriel Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/soul-s-beauty/
