Classic Poem

IN FAVORITA .

You sung the noble and the perfect part
Of Castille's King with passion and with grace,
All Donizetti's spirit lit your face;
The notes came trembling from your very heart.

I listened, raptured, to your flawless art,
To all the mellow tones that charmed the space,
And in your modulation I could trace
The magic source that made the warm tears start.

And as I gazed a strange and marvelous sound
Fell on my ear at the finale's close —
A sound that came alone from heavenly lands,
And then I understood, in wonder bound,
That o'er the grand, melodious tumult rose
The ghostly applause of Donizetti's hands.