--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 19 number: 6 published: 1916-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, \"April, 1564—April, 1616,\" *Improvement Era* 19, no. 6 (April 1916): 484–487." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1906unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1906unse start_page: 484 end_page: 487 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1916-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1906unse publication_year: 1916 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1916, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # April, 1564—April, 1616 April, 1564—April, 1616 Immortal Bard, who sleeps by Avon stream And Stratford meadows bright with English flowers, In wonder-love a world of thee doth dream, This April month, with rainbows on the showers. The thoughts of men are sent across the seas To where thy birthland greens 'neath weeping skies, To that gray church amid the budding trees,Wherein the dust of Engand's poet lies. Above the yews, they see the ancient spire Beyond that house wherein ye first drew breath, They learn all human passions from thy lyre, And speak thy fame which triumphs over death. With this day's sun three centuries are goneSince first the infant bard looked on the prime, And April closed the eyes of Avon's Swan Whose voice shall reach the farthest gulfs of time. O in this hour, Great Bard, all honor thee, Thou who did'st sing a listening world to teach; The nations' poets bend once more the knee,Exalt thy station with their diverse speech. BIRTHPLACE OF SHAKESPEARE SHAKESPEARE MEMORIAL—THE CHURCH IN THE DISTANCE And countless thousands greet thy day of birth—Day set by fate to lead to death's dim strand— One thought this time makes kin of all the earth,To find a centre in thy native land. The creatures of thy brain before us pass, From thine our realm of laughter and of tears; While ever fall the sands, within time's glass,The past shall give them to the future years. Hail, then, "Sweet Shakespeare" on this natal day! All hail to thee, vast intellect of art!Hail thee, this time which claimed thy mortal clay, All hail thee, master of the human heart! Immortal Bard, whose triumph is for all,Whose genius sheds a glory on the race; The poet of the cottage and the hall, One whose vast thought nor fails in time nor place! The laural wreath is on the poet's head,To dust the poet's body nature brings; The wreath for Shakespeare, Shakespeare lying dead,And sacred far beyond the dust of kings! The wreath to Shakespeare in supernal light,The love of all the nations gives it now; To world-loved Shakespeare standing on the height,The light divine upon the deathless brow! All tongues unite to make the one acclaim, From shore to shore, from land to land, it runs: The years but add new lustre to his name—Lo! Avon's Bard is bright among the suns! —Alfred Lambourne