She Walks In Beauty
by George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
Composed June, 1814
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless
climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in
her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which
heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half
impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly
lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure,
how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so
calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell
of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart
whose love is innocent!
"She" is reportedly Byron's cousin, Mrs. Wilmot,
whom he met at a party in a mourning dress of spangled black.
Insights...
Grasping the inner nature of things intuitively.