The Artist + 

He stood before his finished work; + 

His heart beat warm and high; + 

But they who gazed upon the youth + 

Knew well that he must die. + 

For many days a fever fierce + 

Had burned into his life; + 

But full of high impassioned art, + 

He bore the fearful strife. + 

And wrought in ecstasy and hope + 

The image of his brain; + 

He felt the death throes at his heart, + 

But labored through the pain. + 

The statue seemed to glow with life⁠— + 

A costly work of art; + 

For it he paid the fervent blood + 

From his own eager heart. + 

With kindling eye and flushing cheek + 

But slowly laboring breath, + 

He gazed upon his finished work, + 

Then sought his couch of death. + 

And when the plaudits of the crowd + 

Came like the south wind’s breath, + 

The dreamy, gifted child of art + 

Had closed his eyes in death. + 