O beautiful one! behold this statue carved of marble,
Looking down on the world with cynical disdain
And advancing across the ages to the shrine of immortality.
Naked, intoxicating the imagination with her arrogant nakedness;
Eternally enjoying the gushing spring of youth;
One gazes upon her with the wonder of the questing dreamer,
And the eyes move across her magic, lingering, entranced.
The sculptor's genius made of her an adornment to eternal beauty,
Then passed on, and the daughter of his vision remained, youthful
and unchanging.
O beautiful one! How cruel are the sudden blows of crooked fate!
If you change, I fear that my vision may die . . . so be turned to stone !