| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Mater Desiderata | | By Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839) |
| | | I CANNOT guess her face or form; | |
| But what to me is form or face? | |
| I do not ask the weary worm | |
| To give me back each buried grace | |
| Of glistening eyes or trailing tresses. | 5 |
| I only feel that she is here, | |
| And that we meet, and that we part; | |
| And that I drink within mine ear, | |
| And that I clasp around my heart | |
| Her sweet still voice and soft caresses. | 10 |
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| Not in the waking thought by day, | |
| Nor in the sightless dream by night, | |
| Do the mild tones and glances play | |
| Of her who was my cradle’s light! | |
| But in some twilight of calm weather | 15 |
| She glides by fancy dimly wrought, | |
| A glittering cloud, a darkling beam, | |
| With all the quiet of a thought | |
| And all the passion of a dream | |
| Link’d in a golden spell together. | 20 | | | |
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