Upon A Mask Of An Unknown Woman's Face. Poem by Annie Adams Fields

'L'amor che mi fa bella.'
PARADISO.

Who is she? The air replies
What know we of name or fame?
Born out of the unknown skies
This fair being came;
But the features of her face,
Where the living story stands,
Tell of no far-distant lands,
No faery dwelling-place.
Other beauty earth shall see
Coming, going with the hour,
Other light shall burn and be
Star of home and dower;
But when spring-time's joy is done,
When the waves their secret keep,
When, the battle lost or won,
We have passed in sleep,
Still thy face, O tender soul!
Shall wear the love of those who weep,
Wear the peace that fills the whole
Of the boundless deep.
Of thy heart we need not ask,
Wert thou joyous? wert thou sad?
White and still beneath this mask,
Spirit of life! thy heart is glad.