Torquato Tasso: A Play

His ear perceives the harmony of nature;
Whatever history offers, whatever life provides,
His bosom receives it readily and willingly:
His mind gathers the widely scattered,
And his feeling animates the inanimate.
Often he ennobles what appeared common to us,
And the esteemed becomes nothing before him.
In this own magic circle walks
The wonderful man, and draws us along
To walk with him, to take part in him:
He seems to approach us, yet remains remote:
He seems to look at us, and perhaps spirits
Appear strange to him in our place.

Princess.

You have portrayed the poet finely and delicately,
He who floats in the realms of sweet dreams.
Yet it seems to me that reality also
Draws him forcefully and holds him fast.
The beautiful poems that we find
Attached here and there to our trees,
Which, like golden apples, a new Hesperia