 | The new day : a poem in songs and sonnets |  |
48
AT THE PLAY.
(SALVINI.)
I saw Othello crouch across the stageWith quick, hot breaths, arched neck, and eyes all white,
And fingers curved to claws before my sight;
I heard his sob and scream of brutal rage,
When, like a tiger leaping from a ledge
Upon his prey, quick as a flash of light
He leaped on Iago: then in shivering fright
I saw him cower, as against the cage
A tiger springs, then cowers tremulous.
So sits my soul apart,—as I do here,
Beholding Shakespeare's thought before me move,—
Calm doth my soul behold my passion thus
Beat vainly 'gainst expression. Voice nor tear
Can tell the wild, great agony of my love.
| The new day : a poem in songs and sonnets | |