She Is Not Fair To Outward View

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.

But now her looks are coy and cold,
to mine they ne'er reply
And, yet, I cease not to behold
the love-light in her eye.
Her very frowns are fairer far
than smiles of other maidens are.

Hartley Coleridge

       

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Pavonia by Lord Frederic Leighton

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