567. She is Not Fair. Hartley Coleridge. 1909-14. English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald. The Harvard Classics

English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

567. She is Not Fair

Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849)


SHE is not fair to outward view
As many maidens be;
Her loveliness I never knew
Until she smiled on me.
O then I saw her eye was bright,	5
A well of love, a spring of light.

But now her looks are coy and cold,
To mine they ne’er reply,
And yet I cease not to behold
The love-light in her eye:	10
Her very frowns are fairer far
Than smiles of other maidens are.