Oh, Beauty, passing beauty! sweetest Sweet!
How canst thou let me waste my youth in sighs;
I only ask to sit beside thy feet.
Thou knowest I dare not look into thine eyes,
Might I but kiss thy hand! I dare not fold
My arms about thee—scarcely dare to speak.
And nothing seems to me so wild and bold,
As with one kiss to touch thy blessèd cheek.
Methinks if I should kiss thee, no control
Within the thrilling brain could keep afloat
The subtle spirit. Even while I spoke,
The bare word KISS hath made my inner soul
To tremble like a lutestring, ere the note
Hath melted in the silence that it broke.
One day, I'm going to try this out when a beautiful woman walks by me.
Tennyson uses old-fashioned English-'thee', 'canst thou'- in parts, but the poem has a modern tone. 'Beauty' sounds like a beautiful woman, or it could be any form of beauty. Well worth reading.
Like the soldiers who were made drowsy by the Lotos Fruits, Tennyson the great has again created a character who is infatuated with the beauty of beauty so successfully.
The bare word KISS hath made my inner soul To tremble like a lutestring, ere the note Hath melted in the silence that it broke.....touching expression with nice theme. It is a beautiful poem composed by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
sweetest Sweet! Nice work.