A Precept

With words of ivory,
Of bronze, of ebony,.
Of alabaster, marble, steel and gold,
The beauty of the visible is told.

How, how with these express
The unseen Loveliness-
Splendor and light and harmony and sound
The heart has felt, the sense has never found ?

No shining words of stone-
Shadow and cloud alone-
These shall the poet seek eternally,
Whose lines would carve the mask of Mystery.