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Sweet Death
The sweetest blossoms die.
And so it was that, going day by day
Unto the church to praise and pray,
And crossing the green church-yard thoughtfully,
I saw how on the graves the flowers
Shed their fresh leaves in showers;
And how their perfume rose up to the sky
Before it passed away.
The youngest blossoms die.
They die, and fall, and nourish the rich earth
From which they lately had their birth.
Sweet life: but sweeter death that passeth by,
And is as tho' it had not been.
All colors turn to green:
The bright hues vanish, and the odours fly;
The grass hath lasting worth.
And youth and beauty die.
So be it, O my God, thou God of truth.
Better than beauty and than youth
Are saints and angels, a glad company:
And Thou, O lord, our Rest and Ease,
Are better far than these.
Why should we shrink from our full harvest? why
Prefer to glean with Ruth?
The Subject in Art No. II
Resuming a consideration of the subject-matter suitable in painting
and sculpture, it is necessary to repeat those premises, and to
re-establish those principles which were advanced or elicited in the
first number of this essay.
It was premised then that works of Fine Art affect the beholder in
the same ratio as the _natural prototypes_ of those works would
affect him; and not in proportion to the difficulties overcome in the
artificial representation of those prototypes.
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