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1858–1935

BEAUTY'S METEMPSYCHOSIS

William Watson

That beauty such as thine Can die indeed, Were ordinance too wantonly malign: No wit may reconcile so cold a creed

With beauty such as thine. From wave and star and flower Some effluence rare Was lent thee, a divine but transient dower:

Thou yield'st it back from eyes and lips and hair To wave and star and flower. Shouldst thou to-morrow die, Thou still shalt be

Found in the rose and met in all the sky: And from the ocean's heart shalt sing to me, Shouldst thou to-morrow die.

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BEAUTY'S METEMPSYCHOSIS · William Watson · Poetry Cove