01.01.2011, 13:29
TO MRS. CAMERON, FRESHWATER. ISLE OF WIGHT
Lo ! modern beauty lends her lips and eyes
To tell an ancient story. Thou hast brought
Into thy picture all our fancy sought
Of that old time, with cunning art and wise.
The sun obeys thy gestures, and allows
Thy guiding hand, where'er thou hast a mind.
To turn his passive light upon mankind,
And set his seal and thine on chosen brows.
Thou lovest all loveliness, and many a face
Is press'd and summon'd from the breezy shores
On thine immortal charts to take its place ;
While, near at hand, the jealous ocean roars :
His noblest Tritons would thy subjects be,
And all his fairest Nereids sit to thee.
Lo ! modern beauty lends her lips and eyes
To tell an ancient story. Thou hast brought
Into thy picture all our fancy sought
Of that old time, with cunning art and wise.
The sun obeys thy gestures, and allows
Thy guiding hand, where'er thou hast a mind.
To turn his passive light upon mankind,
And set his seal and thine on chosen brows.
Thou lovest all loveliness, and many a face
Is press'd and summon'd from the breezy shores
On thine immortal charts to take its place ;
While, near at hand, the jealous ocean roars :
His noblest Tritons would thy subjects be,
And all his fairest Nereids sit to thee.