Quote#Love
She is not fair to outward view
Quote byHartley Coleridge · 1796–1849
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Poems (1851), "Song. She is not fair".
English (original)
She is not fair to outward view As many maidens be; Her loveliness I never knew Until she smiled on me: Oh! then I saw her eye was bright, A well of love, a spring of light.
— Hartley Coleridge
More from Hartley Coleridge
Rising now, anon descending, Swift and bright as shooting stars, Thus we travel glad and free.
On this hapless earth There ’s small sincerity of mirth, And laughter oft is but an art To drown the outcry of the heart.
The soul of man is larger than the sky, Deeper than ocean, or the abysmal dark Of the unfathomed center.
Her very frowns are fairer far Than smiles of other maidens are.
Great poet, 'twas thy art To know thyself, and in thyself to be Whate'er Love, Hate, Ambition, Destiny, Or the firm, fatal purpose of the Heart Can make of Man. Yet thou wert still the same, Serene of thought, unhurt by thy own flame.
Sweet were change, If but a change of tortures! But to grow A motionless rock, fast as my strong prison, Age after age, till circling suns outnumber The sands upon the tide-worn beach! No hope, Or that sad mockery of hope that fools