Venice masks

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Dedication - Peter Foersom

Snatch'd from the scenic monarch's glorious crown, 
     A few stray gems I bring. Before thy feet, 
     Exalted fair, in every charm complete, 
With rev'rence and delight I lay them down. 
Their home was ever in the princely breast; 
     That crowned vestal, western sun of fame, 
     She loved them; and in their unfading flame 
The image of her brightness shines confess'd. 
As when the flow'rets of the spring unfold 
     Their censers, with the pearls of morn replete, 
       Nature's sweet sacrifice, the lordly sun 
Joys to illume them; on my offering bold, 
     Sun of the North, from thy resplendent seat, 
       Of all thy countless rays, oh, shed but one! 

Peter Foersom (1717 – 1817) Denmark
Translated by William Sidney Walker
Source: Poems: from the Danish by Andreas Andersen Feldborg, Thomas Dobson, 1816

Dedicatory lines to the Princess Royal of Denmark; prefixed to a Danish translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Julius Cæsar. 

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