Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (18331908). An American Anthology, 17871900. 1900. |
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339. A Proem |
| By Samuel Ward |
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WHEN in my walks I meet some ruddy lad | |
Or swarthy manwith tray-beladen head, | |
Whose smile entreats me, or his visage sad, | |
To buy the images he moulds for bread, | |
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I think that,though his poor Greek Slave in chains, | 5 |
His Venus and her Boy with plaster dart, | |
Be, like the Organ-Grinders quavering strains, | |
But farthings in the currency of art, | |
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Such coins a kingly effigy still wear, | |
Let metals base or precious in them mix: | 10 |
The painted vellum hallows not the Prayer, | |
Nor ivory nor gold the Crucifix. | |
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