| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
| |
| 1088. To Shakespeare |
| | | By Richard Edwin Day |
| |
| |
| THOU, who didst lay all other bosoms bare, | |
| Impenetrable shade didst round thee throw; | |
| And of the ready tears thou makest flow, | |
| Monarch of tears, thou hast not any share. | |
| Sad Petrarch, sadder Byron their despair | 5 |
| Unlocked, their dismal theatres of woe | |
| Unclosed: thou showest Hamlet, Romeo, | |
| And maddened Lear, with tempest on his hair. | |
| Hadst thou no suffering men’s tears could suage? | |
| No comedy of thine own life, shut in? | 10 |
| No lurid tragedy—perhaps of sin— | |
| That walked with muffled steps its curtained stage? | |
| Confession troubles ne’er thy godlike look; | |
| Thou art, thyself, thy one unopened book. | |
| |
|
|
|
