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1863–1952

XLVII

George Santayana

Thou hast no name, or, if a name thou bearest, To none it meaneth what it means to me: Thy form, the loveliness the world can see, Makes not the glory that to me thou wearest.

Nor thine unuttered thoughts, though they be fairest And shaming all that in rude bosoms be: All they are but the thousandth part of thee, Which thou with blessed spirits haply sharest.

But incommunicable, peerless, dim, Flooding my heart with anguish of despair, Thou walkest, love, before me, shade of Him Who only liveth, giveth, and is fair.

And constant ever, though inconstant known, In all my loves I worshipped thee alone.

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XLVII · George Santayana · Poetry Cove