Poetry Archives

(For Aline)


From what old ballad, or from what rich frame
 Did you descend to glorify the earth?
Was it from Chaucer’s singing book you came?
 Or did Watteau’s small brushes give you birth?

Nothing so exquisite as that slight hand
 Could Raphael or Leonardo trace.
Nor could the poets know in Fairyland
 The changing wonder of your lyric face.

I would possess a host of lovely things,
 But I am poor and such joys may not be.
So God who lifts the poor and humbles kings
 Sent loveliness itself to dwell with me.