Classic Poem

‘Enter my palace,’ if a prince should say—
‘Feast with the Painters! See, in bounteous row,
They range from Titian up to Angelo!’
Could we be silent at the rich survey?
A host so kindly, in as great a way
Invites to banquet, substitutes for show
Sound that's diviner still, and bids us know
Bach like Beethoven; are we thankless, pray?
To him whose every guest not idly vaunts,
‘Sense has received the utmost Nature grants,
My cup was filled with rapture to the brim,
When, night by night—ah, memory, how it haunts!—
Music was poured by perfect ministrants,
By Hallé, Schumann, Piatti, Joachim.’