Canto 13I cannot equal
Book 2. Part Two - Baroda Circa 1898 – 1902
O face that I have loved
O face that I have loved until no face
Beneath the quiet heavens such glory wear,
They say you are not beautiful, — no snare
5Of twilight in the changing mysticness
Or deep enhaloed secrecy of hair,
Soft largeness in the eyes I dare not kiss!
Unreal all your bosom’s dreadful bliss.
Too narrow are your brows they say to bear
10The temple of vast beauty in its span
Or chaste cold bosom to house fierily
Beauty that maddens all the heart of man.
I know not; this I know that utterly
My soul is by some magic curls surprised,
15Some glances have my heart immortalized.
I cannot equal
I cannot equal those most absolute eyes,
Although they rule my being, with the stars,
Nor floral rich comparisons devise
20To detail sweetness that your body wears.
Nor in the heavens hints of you I find,
Nor dim suggestions in this thoughtful eve;
The moonlight of your darker grace is blind.
Who can with such pale delicacies deceive
25A naked burning heart? Only one place
Satisfies me of you, where the feet
That I shall never clasp, with beauty press
The barren earth in one place only sweet,
One face in the wide world alone divine,
30The only one that never can be mine.