 | The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman |  |
H. VAN D.
(A TOAST)
Health to the poet, scholar, wit, divine,In whom sweet Nature would all gifts combine
214
The Admirable Crichton of our day,
Whose quill and lute and voice are weapons shear
That quite outvie that gallant's swift rapier,—
Whose dulcet English, from its font that wells,
This night, the Scotsman's dozen tongues excels!
Long may he live, to wear the cloistral gown,
Or from his Little Rivers bring to town—
From every haunt where purling waters flow—
The mystic flower that only votaries know!
Wouldst view what Nature's portraiture is like?
The Dame herself hath sat to this Van Dyke.
Lotos Club, December 23, 1904.
| The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman | |