Quote#Beauty
Ill times may be; she hath no thought of time
Quote byLionel Pigot Johnson · 1867–1902
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Oxford".
English (original)
Ill times may be; she hath no thought of time: She reigns beside the waters yet in pride. Rude voices cry: but in her ears the chime Of full, sad bells brings back her old springtide. Like to a queen in pride of place, she wears The splendour of a crown in Radcliffe's dome. Well fare she, well! As perfect beauty fares; And those high places, that are beauty's home.
— Lionel Pigot Johnson
More from Lionel Pigot Johnson
Alone he rides, alone, The fair and fatal king: Dark night is all his own, That strange and solemn thing.
Imageries of dreams reveal a gracious age
The winds are sometimes sad to me, The starry spaces, full of fear; Mine is the sorrow on the sea, And mine the sigh of places drear. Some players upon plaintive strings Publish their wistfulness abroad; I have not spoken of these things,
Now from the broken tower, what solemn bell still tolls, Mourning what piteous death? Answer, O saddened souls! Who mourn the death of beauty and the death of grace.
What comes now? The earth awaits What fierce wonder from the skies? Thunder, trampling through the night? Morning, with illustrious eyes? Morning, from the springs of light: Thunder, round Heaven's opening gates..
Which are more full of fate: The stars; or those sad eyes? Which are more still and great: Those brows; or the dark skies?