Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By Sarah Morgan BryanPiatt677 Transfigured
A
(A dwarf more piteous none could find):
Withered as some weird leaf, and thin,
The woman was—and wan and blind.
Not vain to be so fair, but glad—
The South-born painter looked the while,
With eyes than Christ’s alone less sad.
He whispered, “what am I to paint!”
A voice, that sounded from the skies,
Said to him, “Raphael, a saint.”
He scarce could look at her, and she
Was still and silent.… “It is done,”
He said.—“Oh, call the world to see!”
Transcendent face and haloed hair.
The beauty of divinest youth,
Divinely beautiful, was there.
Herself and not her poor disguise,
Made up of time and dust.… At last
One saw her with the Master’s eyes.