Beauty Making

Methinks there is no greater work in life     Than making beauty.    Can the mind conceive     One little corner in celestial realms     Unbeautiful, or dull or commonplace?     Or picture ugly angels, illy clad?     Beauty and splendour, opulence and joy,     Are attributes of God and His domain,     And so are worth and virtue.    But why preach     Of virtue only to the sons of men,     Ignoring beauty, till they think it sin?     Why, if each dweller on this little globe     Could know the sacred meaning of that word     And understand its deep significance,     Men's thoughts would form in beauty, till their dreams     Of heaven would find expression in their lives,     However humble; they themselves would grow     Godlike, befitting such a fair estate.     Let us be done with what is only good,     Demanding here and now the beautiful;     Lest, with the mind and eye on earth untrained,     We shall be ill at ease when heaven is gained.