To a Great Actress

She has taken my heart, though she knows not, would care not.
     It thrills at her voice like a reed in the wind;
I would taste all her agonies, have her to spare not,
          Sin deep as she sinned,

To be tossed by the storm of her love, as the ocean
     Rocks vessels to wreck; to be hers, though the cost
Were the loss of all else: for that moment’s emotion
          Content to be lost!

To be, for a moment, the man of all men to her,
     All the world, for one measureless moment complete;
To possess, be possessed! To be mockery then to her,
          Then to die at her feet!