A Forgotten Miniature

There you are in the dark,
       Deep in a box
Nobody ever unlocks,
Or even turns to mark;
       —Out of mind stark.

Yet there you have not been worsed
       Like your sitter
By Time, the Fair's hard-hitter;
Your beauties, undispersed,
       Glow as at first.

Shut in your case for years,
       Never an eye
Of the many passing nigh,
Fixed on their own affairs,
       Thinks what it nears!

—While you have lain in gloom,
       A form forgot,
Your reign remembered not,
Much life has come to bloom
       Within this room.

Yea, in Time's cyclic sweep
       Unrest has ranged:
Women and men have changed:
Some you knew slumber deep;
       Some wait for sleep.