• “The might of one fair face”

    From the Italian by John Edward Taylor
    THE MIGHT of one fair face sublimes my love,
    For it hath weaned my heart from low desires;
    Nor death I heed, nor purgatorial fires.
    Thy beauty, antepast of joys above,
    Instructs me in the bliss that saints approve;
    For O, how good, how beautiful, must be
    The God that made so good a thing as thee,...

    Michaelangelo

  • Betrothed to Righteousness might be

    Betrothed to Righteousness might be

    An Ecstasy discreet

    But Nature relishes the Pinks

    Which she was taught to eat —

  • It might be lonelier

    It might be lonelier

    Without the Loneliness —

    I'm so accustomed to my Fate —

    Perhaps the Other — Peace —


    Would interrupt the Dark —

    And crowd the little Room —

    Too scant — by Cubits — to contain

    The Sacrament — of Him —


    I am not used to Hope —

    It might...

  • The Grace — Myself — might not obtain —

    The Grace — Myself — might not obtain —

    Confer upon My flower —

    Refracted but a Countenance —

    For I — inhabit Her —

  • The right to perish might be thought

    The right to perish might be thought

    An undisputed right —

    Attempt it, and the Universe

    Upon the opposite

    Will concentrate its officers —

    You cannot even die

    But nature and mankind must pause

    To pay you scrutiny.

  • They might not need me — yet they might —

    They might not need me but; they might.

    I'll let my Head be just in sight;

    A smile as small as mine might be

    Precisely their necessity.

  • Wert Thou but ill — that I might show thee

    Wert Thou but ill — that I might show thee

    How long a Day I could endure

    Though thine attention stop not on me

    Nor the least signal, Me assure —


    Wert Thou but Stranger in ungracious country —

    And Mine — the Door

    Thou paused at, for a passing bounty —

    No More —


    Accused...