Beauty

Say, where does beauty dwell?
I gazed upon the dance, where ladies bright
Were moving in the light
Of mirrors and of lamps; with music and with flowers,
Danced on the joyous hours;
And fairest bosoms
Heaved happily beneath the winter-rose's blossoms;
And it is well:
Vouth hath its time —
Merry hearts will merrily chime.
The forms were fair to see,
The tones were sweet to the ear;
But there 's beauty more rare to me —
That beauty was not here.
I stood in the open air,
And gazed on nature there.
The beautiful stars were over my head,
The crescent moon hung o'er the west;
Beauty o'er river and hill was spread,
Wooing the feverish soul to rest;
Beauty breathed in the summer-breeze,
Beauty rock'd the whispering trees,
Was mirror'd in the sleeping billow,
Was bending in the swaying willow,
Flooding the skies, bathing the earth,
Giving all lovely things a birth:
All — all was fair to see —
All was sweet to the ear:
But there 's beauty more fair to me —
That beauty was not here.
I sat in my room alone.
My heart began a tone
Its soothing strains were such
As if a spirit's touch
Were visiting its chords.
Soon it gather'd words,
Pouring forth its feelings,
And its deep revealings:
Thoughts and fancies came
With their brightening flame.
Truths of deepest worth
Sprang embodied forth —
Deep and solemn mysteries,
Spiritual harmonies,
And the faith that conquers time
Strong, and lovely, and sublime.
Then the purposes of life
Stood apart from vulgar strife.
Labour in the path of duty
Gleam'd up like a thing of beauty.
Beauty shone in self-denial,
In the sternest hour of trial —
In a meek obedience
To the will of Providence —
In the lofty sympathies
That, forgetting selfish ease,
Prompted acts that sought the good
Of every spirit: — understood
The wants of every human heart,
Eager ever to impart
Blessings to the weary soul
That hath felt the better world's control.
Here is beauty such as ne'er
Met the eye or charm'd the ear.
In the soul's high duties then I felt
That the loftiest beauty ever dwelt.