Poems by Sir Alfred C. Lyall Revised and Slightly Enlarged from "Verses Written in India" (Sixth Edition) |
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| XVI. |
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| XXVI. | XXVI.
INSCRIPTION |
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 | Poems by Sir Alfred C. Lyall |  |
137
XXVI. INSCRIPTION
(To Mrs. Beerbohm Tree, in a volume of Essays on India).
You who in mimic camp or court,
'Mid scenes of grief or gaiety,
Our Shakespeare's story, verse, and thought
Interpret to the laity—
Whose life through moods intense must range
With little pause or leisure,
Whose Art, with many a ringing change,
Strikes all the chords of pleasure;
The song, the sportive wit refined,
The subtle grace and fashion
Of voice or step that charm the mind
And trick the springs of passion.
Why should you read of ancient rites,
The worships of a rude land,
The haunting ghosts, the wandering sprites,
The gods of hill and woodland?
Of prayers that, bowed to stock or stone,
The simple sad believer
Chants in his mystic monotone
Before the shrine of Sîva—
The endless quest, the hopeless faith
Of India's saints and sages;
The alternating life and death
Through myriad forms and stages.
'Mid scenes of grief or gaiety,
Our Shakespeare's story, verse, and thought
Interpret to the laity—
Whose life through moods intense must range
With little pause or leisure,
Whose Art, with many a ringing change,
Strikes all the chords of pleasure;
The song, the sportive wit refined,
The subtle grace and fashion
Of voice or step that charm the mind
And trick the springs of passion.
138
The worships of a rude land,
The haunting ghosts, the wandering sprites,
The gods of hill and woodland?
Of prayers that, bowed to stock or stone,
The simple sad believer
Chants in his mystic monotone
Before the shrine of Sîva—
The endless quest, the hopeless faith
Of India's saints and sages;
The alternating life and death
Through myriad forms and stages.
Yet, an you like it, read and know
Old India's wisest saying—
This world is but a scenic show,
And Life is Nature playing.
Old India's wisest saying—
This world is but a scenic show,
And Life is Nature playing.
| Poems by Sir Alfred C. Lyall | |