Volume 1 — WEALTH (For Aline)
Reading edition
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.