Sweet friend, the world, like some fair infant blessed, <br />Radiant with sportive grace, around thee plays; <br />Yet 'tis not as depicted in thy breast- <br />Not as within thy soul's fair glass, its rays <br />Are mirrored. The respectful fealty <br />That my heart's nobleness hath won for thee, <br />The miracles thou workest everywhere, <br />The charms thy being to this life first lent,- <br />To it, mere charms to reckon thou'rt content, <br />To us, they seem humanity so fair. <br />The witchery sweet of ne'er-polluted youth, <br />The talisman of innocence and truth- <br />Him I would see, who these to scorn can dare! <br />Thou revellest joyously in telling o'er <br />The blooming flowers that round thy path are strown,- <br />The glad, whom thou hast made so evermore,- <br />The souls that thou hast conquered for thine own. <br />In thy deceit so blissful be thou glad! <br />Ne'er let a waking disenchantment sad <br />Hurl thee despairing from thy dream's proud flight! <br />Like the fair flowerets that thy beds perfume, <br />Observe them, but ne'er touch them as they bloom,- <br />Plant them, but only for the distant sight. <br />Created only to enchant the eye, <br />In faded beauty at thy feet they'll lie, <br />The nearer thee, the nearer their long night!<br /><br />Friedrich Schiller<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/written-in-a-young-lady-s-album-2/
