| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922. |
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| Venus Transiens |
| | | Amy Lowell (1874–1925) |
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| TELL 1 me, | |
| Was Venus more beautiful | |
| Than you are, | |
| When she topped | |
| The crinkled waves, | 5 |
| Drifting shoreward | |
| On her plaited shell? | |
| Was Botticelli’s vision | |
| Fairer than mine; | |
| And were the painted rosebuds | 10 |
| He tossed his lady, | |
| Of better worth | |
| Than the words I blow about you | |
| To cover your too great loveliness | |
| As with a gauze | 15 |
| Of misted silver? | |
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| For me, | |
| You stand poised | |
| In the blue and buoyant air, | |
| Cinctured by bright winds, | 20 |
| Treading the sunlight. | |
| And the waves which precede you | |
| Ripple and stir | |
| The sands at your feet. | |
| | | Note 1. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, from Pictures of the Floating World, by Amy Lowell. Copyright, 1919, by The Macmillan Company. [back] |
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