University of Virginia Library


69

AN ACTOR'S BURIAL

II

He saw with genius' glance the future hour
When England's nobler drama, nobly done,
Shall on some grand ideal stage be one
With English acting, a most mighty power:
Heir of the age when, bursting into flower
At Marlowe's touch, its passionate life begun,
Beneath those heavens where Shakespeare was the sun
Our drama gave to time that priceless dower.
Shakespeare his debtor, Tennyson his friend,
While Becket's last great words became his own,
Immortal, here he met his mortal end,
Treading the lampless ghostly boards alone;
Destined through all the undying years to be
On England's stage a deathless memory.