LXXVII SOUL’S BEAUTY (SIBYLLA PALMIFERA)

LXXVII

SOUL’S BEAUTY

(SIBYLLA PALMIFERA)

Under the arch of Life, where love and death,

    Terror and mystery guard her shrine, I saw

    Beauty enthroned; and though her gaze struck awe,

I drew it in as simply as my breath.

Hers are the eyes which, over and beneath,

    The sky and sea bend on thee, — which can draw,

    By sea or sky or woman, to one law,

The allotted bondman of her palm and wreath.

This is that Lady Beauty, in whose praise

    Thy voice and hand shake still, — long known to thee

         By flying hair and fluttering hem, — the beat

         Following her daily of thy heart and feet,

    How passionately and irretrievably,

In what fond flight, how many ways and days!

Dante Gabriel Rossetti SIBYLLA PALMIFERA Oil on canvas. Circa 1865–1870 National Museums Liverpool (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight)

Данте Габриэль Россетти SIBYLLA PALMIFERA Холст, масло. Ок. 1865–1870 Ливерпульский национальный музей (Художественная галерея Леди Ливер, Порт Санлайт)