Before a Painting + 

I knew not who had wrought with skill so fine + 

What I beheld; nor by what laws of art + 

He had created life and love and heart + 

On canvas, from mere color, curve and line. + 

Silent I stood and made no move or sign; + 

Not with the crowd, but reverently apart; + 

Nor felt the power my rooted limbs to start, + 

But mutely gazed upon that face divine. + 

And over me the sense of beauty fell, + 

As music over a raptured listener to + 

The deep-voiced organ breathing out a hymn; + 

Or as on one who kneels, his beads to tell, + 

There falls the aureate glory filtered through + 

The windows in some old cathedral dim. + 