The Old Water-Colour Exhibition Poem by Bessie Rayner Parkes

OH! thoughts of Genius, cloth'd in hues divine,
And sanctifying this time-honour'd spot,--
Oh! sacrifices on the holy shrine
Of Arts to God, by Him rejected not;
Most true religious teachers, ye allot
A portion of Heaven's blessedness to men
Shut up in dreary town, and noisy den
Of much unrighteousness, who seldom see
The gracious form of Nature, save in ye.
Nature interpreted by Love is Art,
Which, entering in the inmost spirit, calls
Tears from the eyes and blessings from the heart,
And longing lingering reverence to these glorious walls.