Trees, and Other Poems

Wealth

     (For Aline)

     From what old ballad, or from what rich frame
      Did you descend to glorify the earth?
     Was it from Chaucer's singing book you came?
      Or did Watteau's small brushes give you birth?

     Nothing so exquisite as that slight hand
      Could Raphael or Leonardo trace.
     Nor could the poets know in Fairyland
      The changing wonder of your lyric face.

     I would possess a host of lovely things,
      But I am poor and such joys may not be.
     So God who lifts the poor and humbles kings
      Sent loveliness itself to dwell with me.