A brilliant thought leaps out and glows,
Or scatters fragrance like the rose,
Nor needs an artizan’s design
To plan and shape to make it shine,—
Not all is brilliance in rondeaux.
The labored effort plainly shows
The mind has passed thro’ mighty throes
To give the world, with stamp divine,
A brilliant thought.
The music wins which sweetly flows,
Not that which falls like stunning blows,
And ease and grace, with sense combine,
To clothe with elegance the line,
Where Genius gives, in verse or prose,
A brilliant thought.