The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli (c. 1485)

From the Sea

Light, bright as the sun falls into the sea
Forcing thousands of ripples to the shore
Disrupting the quietness quite pertly
Curious bubbling foam each ripple wore

Substance steadily stacks at water’s edge
When suddenly a wind came roaring in
Whirling all if it were a swirling dredge
Ceasing abruptly as it did begin

Then suddenly before my very eyes
Slowly grains of sand falling to the ground
The remaining form much to my surprise
I stood their helplessly without a sound

Such great beauty in her pure nakedness
Was the goddess of all beauty, Venus