Boyish Beauty See that lad, of late a child Irresponsible and wild Now look up with earnest eyes Tender, passionate and wise! Love has lent him for an hour Beauty's holy, awful power: When he's ripe for toil and pain, Love will take it back again. Boysh beauty comes and goes, Like a rivulet that flows: Woman, as a placid pool, Long is fair if clean and cool. Yet the running waters shine With a splendor more divine: So the fairest woman's grace Fades before a boyish face!   in Boyhood, Reverend E.E. Bradford, Keegan Paul, Trench.   Poetry