MADAME CALVE
Unmatched as actress, unsurpassed in song,
The heroines of the lyric stage in thee,
(Shadows most oft a world of shades among)
As creatures full of fiery life we see:
Thine own strong soul thou usest to inform
These scenic puppets with the breath of life,
So that we see them, passion-breathing, warm,
Through all the gamut of their nature's strife;
Carmen thou art, and Carmen thou alone;
All Marguerites but thine are shadows dim;
Ophelia, Messaline, Santuzza, shewn
By thee no wreck of memory can dislimn:
Yet these we feel are but a little part
Of thy so splendid gifts of mind and heart.
The heroines of the lyric stage in thee,
(Shadows most oft a world of shades among)
As creatures full of fiery life we see:
Thine own strong soul thou usest to inform
These scenic puppets with the breath of life,
So that we see them, passion-breathing, warm,
Through all the gamut of their nature's strife;
Carmen thou art, and Carmen thou alone;
All Marguerites but thine are shadows dim;
Ophelia, Messaline, Santuzza, shewn
By thee no wreck of memory can dislimn:
Yet these we feel are but a little part
Of thy so splendid gifts of mind and heart.
SOUTH AFRICA, 1899
The brave must needs honour and love the brave,
Though they are ranked against themselves in fight,
And only cowards at those foemen rave
Who manfully do blow for blow requite:
Shame then on those who libel the brave men
Who fight for all that is to them most dear;
Even though, to our 'patriot's' enlightened ken,
They're worthy only of a Briton's sneer.
Theirs is to them a just and sacred cause,
Ours at the best is not so just or clear,
But that, however ably pleaded, flaws
Will in our strongest arguments appear:
Oh evil fate! to make us thus contend
Against a State which should be most our friend!
Though they are ranked against themselves in fight,
And only cowards at those foemen rave
Who manfully do blow for blow requite:
Shame then on those who libel the brave men
Who fight for all that is to them most dear;
Even though, to our 'patriot's' enlightened ken,
They're worthy only of a Briton's sneer.
Theirs is to them a just and sacred cause,
Ours at the best is not so just or clear,
But that, however ably pleaded, flaws
Will in our strongest arguments appear:
Oh evil fate! to make us thus contend
Against a State which should be most our friend!
1721 for the Margraf of Brandenburgh, and known consequently as "The Brandenburgh Concertos."
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