English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 470. She Walks in Beauty |
| | | George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
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| SHE walks in beauty, like the night | |
| Of cloudless climes and starry skies, | |
| And all that’s best of dark and bright | |
| Meet in her aspect and her eyes; | |
| Thus mellow’d to that tender light | 5 |
| Which heaven to gaudy day denies. | |
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| One shade the more, one ray the less, | |
| Had half impair’d the nameless grace | |
| Which waves in every raven tress | |
| Or softly lightens o’er her face, | 10 |
| Where thoughts serenely sweet express | |
| How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. | |
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| And on that cheek and o’er that brow | |
| So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, | |
| The smiles that win, the tints that glow | 15 |
| But tell of days in goodness spent,— | |
| A mind at peace with all below, | |
| A heart whose love is innocent. | |
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