Clarence Clough Buel (1850-1933)
"Assistant editor of the Century magazine,
associate editor of the Century
's War History, and a writer of thoughtful, polished prose
and verse. Emerson appeared in the Tribune; Neilson [Poet and
Actress] in the Century
." (Crandall)
Emerson
April 27, 1882
The Keeper of the Concord Light is dead,
And gone its shining way to Paradise;
From that Snug Harbor of the soul he spies
A beacon-glory round his memory shed
By waves that bring to hungry mortals bread,
Once cast upon the waters by the wise,
Kind hand that kept the Light. His startled eyes
Gleam heavenly joy, then fill with modest dread
And turn to greet the friends of other days,
Who lead him to his castles, late of Spain,
Within whose halls resound his unsung lays:
The while a busy world beneath the wain,
That plucks a star from Concord's peaceful ways,
In reverence pauses at a new-made fane.
Poet and Actress
When Avon's Bard his sweetest music scored,
A woman's vision with the numbers blent;
Each to the other equal beauty lent
As weaving fancy robed the form adored.
O Poet, didst thou see upon the board
Eye-filling Rosalind, whose playful bent
Suffused thy lines? Juliet, all passion-spent?
Viola's sweet self, and Imogen's restored?
'Twas thine to give the music-mated lines,
But Heaven alone empowers the counterpart
To walk in splendor where such genius shines.
Thrice happy we, blest heirs of dual art
To own as mother-tongue Will Shakespeare's writ,
To live when kindling Neilson voices it.
(Text from Representative Sonnets by American Poets)
