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Home  »  An American Anthology, 1787–1900  »  1359 An Unpraised Picture

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By RichardBurton

1359 An Unpraised Picture

I SAW a picture once by Angelo.

“Unfinished,” said the critic; “done in youth;”

And that was all, no thought of praise, forsooth!

He was informed, and doubtless it was so.

And yet, I let an hour of dreaming go

The way of all time, touched to tears and ruth,

Passion and joy, the prick of conscience’ tooth,

Before that careworn Christ’s divine, soft glow.

The painter’s yearning with an unsure hand

Had moved me more than might his master days;

He seemed to speak like one whose Meccaland

Is first beheld, though faint and far the ways;

Who may not then his shaken voice command,

Yet trembles forth a word of prayer and praise.