Most tuneful singer, lover tenderest, br Most sad, most piteous, and most musical, br Thine is the shrine more pilgrim-worn than all br The shrines of singers; high above the rest br Thy trumpet sounds most loud, most manifest. br Yet better were it if a lonely call br Of woodland birds, a song, a madrigal, br Were all the jetsam of thy sea's unrest. br br For now thy praises have become too loud br On vulgar lips, and every yelping cur br Yaps thee a paean ; the whiles little men, br Not tall enough to worship in a crowd, br Spit their small wits at thee. Ah ! better then br The broken shrine, the lonely worshipper.