Who Knows How Beauty Springs
Who knows how beauty springs
Out of the world of things,
To take the eyes with sudden flame
And vanish whence it came,
High above things that vex,
Fear, covetousness, spite and sex ?
Lost in the busy day,
In thoughts that harry and press,
I knew a young girl passed
And heard her swinging dress ;
And when I turned I saw,
Raised on a stair,
Only her ankle, finely poised
Against the coloured air.
Who that has known can tell
How in this world of things,