Lord Alfred Douglas

Here you will find thePoemTo Shakespeareof poet Lord Alfred Douglas

To Shakespeare

Most tuneful singer, lover tenderest, Most sad, most piteous, and most musical, Thine is the shrine more pilgrim-worn than all The shrines of singers; high above the rest Thy trumpet sounds most loud, most manifest. Yet better were it if a lonely call Of woodland birds, a song, a madrigal, Were all the jetsam of thy sea's unrest. For now thy praises have become too loud On vulgar lips, and every yelping cur Yaps thee a paean ; the whiles little men, Not tall enough to worship in a crowd, Spit their small wits at thee. Ah ! better then The broken shrine, the lonely worshipper.