Washington Allston (1779-1843). V. On a Statue of an Angel, by Benaime, of Rome. Hunt and Lee, comps. 1867. The Book of the Sonnet

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

V. On a Statue of an Angel, by Benaimé, of Rome

By Washington Allston (1779–1843)

In the Possession of J. S. Copley Green, Esq.

O, WHO can look on that celestial face,
And kindred for it claim with aught on earth?
If ever here more lovely form had birth—
No, never that supernal purity,—that grace
So eloquent of unimpassioned love!	5
That, by a simple movement, thus imparts
Its own harmonious peace, the while our hearts
Rise, as by instinct, to the world above.
And yet we look on cold, unconscious stone.
But what is that which thus our spirits own	10
As Truth and Life? ’T is not material Art,
But e’en the sculptor’s soul to sense unsealed.
O, never may he doubt—its witness so revealed—
There lives within him an immortal part!