A DIAMOND glow of winter oer the world:
Amid the chilly halo nigh the west
Flickers a phantom violet bloom unfurled
    Dim on the twilights breast.
 
Only phantasmal blooms but for an hour,
A transient beauty; then the white stars shine
Chilling the heart: I long for thee to flower,
    O bud of light divine.
 
But never visible to sense or thought
The flower of Beauty blooms afar withdrawn;
If in our being then we know it not,
    Or, knowing, it is gone.


 



