Sidney Lanier,
A Dedication. To Charlotte Cushman
(1876)
“ As Love will carve dear names upon a tree, Symbol of gravure on his heart to be, So thought I thine with loving text to set In the growth and substance of my canzonet; But, writing it, my tears begin to fall— This wild-rose stem for thy large name’s too small! Nay, still my trembling hands are fain, are fain Cut the good letters though they lap again ”
