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by Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945)

Modern beauty
Language: English 
I am the torch, she saith, and what to me
If the moth die of me? I am the flame
Of Beauty, and I burn that all may see
Beauty, and I have neither joy nor shame,
But live with that clear light of perfect fire
Which is to men the death of their desire.
  
I am Yseult and Helen, I have seen
Troy burn, and the most loving knight lie dead.
The world has been my mirror, time has been
My breath upon the glass; and men have said,
Age after age, in rapture and despair,
Love's poor few words, before my image there.
  
I live, and am immortal; in my eyes
The sorrow of the world, and on my lips
The joy of life, mingle to make me wise;
Yet now the day is darkened with eclipse:
Who is there still lives for beauty? Still am I
The torch, but where's the moth that still dares die?

Confirmed with Untermeyer, Louis, Modern British Poetry, New York, Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920.


Text Authorship:

  • by Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945), "Modern beauty" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Walter Foster , "Modern beauty" [tenor and piano], from A Gypsy Romance, no. 1. [ sung text not verified ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2018-01-14
Line count: 18
Word count: 159

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