You carry all your beauty in your heart

And what shines forth is but the overflow;

True fairness sets you nobly apart

For from the inside out, your beauty glows.

If all the world judged virtue by a smile,

Then every lovely would be truly seen—

Still, paradox and artifice beguile,

To mask the grace of that bright light within.

But no not you! Not ever you my dear!

For in your soul both truth and beauty shine;

A peerless spirit void of pride or fear,

Whose essence burns in this, and every line.

Though I might scour the earth by hope in kind,

— No paragon your equal could I find.