VARIOUS POEMS
Should need no absolution—hadst thou died
Unhouselled, in their imaged loveliness.
All this had Fate decreed,—the antique skill,
The halt, the poise, the long auspicious day,—
Yielding this once, thy triumph to fulfil,
Velasquez' sceptre to Fortuny's sway.
Shine from thy cloud of night, fair star, nor fear
Oblivion, though men thy dust inurn,
For who may bid thy counterpart appear
Until the hand that drew thee shall return!
1889.
HAREBELL
A REPARATION
"Grant him," I said, "a well-earned name,
The stage's knight, the keen assayer
Of parts whence all save greatness came,
But—not a player.
"Strange, as of fate's perverseness, this
Proud, eager soul, this fine-strung creature
Should seem forever just to miss
That touch of nature;
"The instinct she so lightly gives
Some fellow at his rivals snarling,
Some churl who gains the boards, and lives
Transformed—her darling!"
"You think so?" he replied. "Well, I
Thought likewise, maugre Lanciotto,
And Yorick, though his Cassius nigh
Won Hamlet's motto.
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