Transfigured

Transfigured

Original Text
S. M. B. Piatt, "Transfigured," Scribners Monthly 19.2 (Dec. 1879): 195.
1Almost afraid they led her in:
2    (A dwarf more piteous none could find);
3Withered as some weird leaf, and thin,
4    The woman was – and wan and blind.
5Into his mirror with a smile –
6    Not vain to be so fair, but glad –
7The South-born painter looked the while,
8    With eyes than Christ's alone less sad.
9"Mother of God," in pale surprise
10    He whispered, "What am I to paint?"
11A voice that sounded from the skies
12    Said to him: "Raphael, a saint."
13She sat before him in the sun;
14    He scarce could look at her, and she
15Was still and silent. "It is done,"
16    He said. "Oh, call the world to see!"
17Ah, that was she in veriest truth –
18    Transcendent face and haloed hair;
19The beauty of divinest youth,
20    Divinely beautiful, was there.
21Herself into her picture passed –
22    Herself and not her poor disguise
23Made up of time and dust. At last
24    One saw her with the Master's eyes.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004
Rhyme
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