"TO JOSEPHINA ESPERON.
"From her red lips' chalice fair
Flower-like perfume fills the air;
And her voice, like song of bird,
Thrills the heart at every word.
In her eyes' dark light divine
Glories born of sunset shine,
And in radiant splendor preach
Eloquence that passeth speech.
If her beauty could but stand
Mirrored by an artist's hand,
Or inspire a poet's theme.
Men would think it but a dream."
The subject of the next bit of verse has inscribed an odd mixture of sentiment and materialism in her interpreter. The combination of the earthly music-teacher with the many heavenly benefactors of the beautiful singer is a triumph of realism. In the original, the abrupt transition is even more marked, since the line rendered, "The muse who presides," etc., is written,—
"El gran Melesio
En el Conservatorio,"—
a much more mythical personage to the world at large than the one by whom I have replaced him.
