Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/68

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

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,

48