Wealth
(For Aline)
 
From what old ballad, or from what rich frame
   Did you descend to glorify the earth?
Was it from Chaucer’s singing book you came?
   Or did Watteau’s small brushes give you birth?
 
Nothing so exquisite as that slight hand
   Could Raphael or Leonardo trace.
Nor could the poets know in Fairyland
   The changing wonder of your lyric face.
 
I would possess a host of lovely things,
   But I am poor and such joys may not be.
So God who lifts the poor and humbles kings
   Sent loveliness itself to dwell with me.


Webpage © 2001 ELC
Lane Core Jr. (lane@elcore.net)
http://poetry.elcore.net/CatholicPoets/KilmerJ/KilmerJ42.html
Created April 2, 2001; not revised.