TO MODJESKA

by: Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909)

HERE are four sisters known to mortals well,

Whose names are Joy and Sorrow, Death, and Love:

This last it was who did my footsteps move

To where the other deep-eyed sisters dwell.

To-night, or ere yon painted curtain fell,

These, one by one, before my eyes did rove

Through the brave mimic world that Shakspere wove.

Lady! thy art, thy passion were the spell

That held me, and still holds; for thou dost show,

With those most high each in his sovereign art,--

Shakspere supreme, Beethoven and Angelo,--

Great art and passion are one. Thine too the part

To prove that still for him the laurels grow

Who reaches through the mind to pluck the heart.

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