GENERATIONS Copyright (C) 1997 by Not Nice Music
II. A COLLECTION OF OBSCURITY by Edwin M. Drogin

2. Beauty Is Only

A surface is as smooth as depth reveals.
A film of beauty which the night conceals,
A fairy paint-box dipped in golden light,
Phosphorescent flowers swaying in the night,
A sky dripping sunset red on its blue,
Grass in a meadow glistening with dew.

A silvery surface the eye beholds,
Oh sight you are God, much wonder upholds!
But what lies behind; above and below?
Oh sight, you are God, but I have to know.

A beautiful surface can be just a thin sheet
That contains nought behind but a prop called deceit.
Taste you are torture, you can lead me astray.
The meanest of curtains when once torn away,
Can reveal 'neath its surface, ugly and vile,
A sweet understanding, the warmth of a smile.

How bitter is beauty, we crawl towards its light
Hands outstretched vainly, while actual delight
Call weakly from shadows, cries dumbly with love.
Tear away your allusions, the hand not the glove
Has warmth and feeling, can caress and assuage.
Who sings so sweetly, the bird not the cage.

Adore the sunset, eye must love
Music gives the ears a treat.
The smooth, the soft, are for the touch,
And for the taste a nectar sweet.

But mind and soul and heart are wise,
They cannot sense what satisfies.
A surface is as smooth as depth reveals.
No film is beauty; more than night, conceals.