Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Musician - His Life and Letters #234078

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor<br><br>Farewell! The soft mists of the sunset-sky<br>Slowly enfold his fading birch-canoe!<br>Farewell! His dark, his desolate forests cry,<br>Moved to their vast, their sorrowful depths anew.<br><br>Fading! Nay, lifted thro' a heaven of light,<br>His proud sails, brightening thro' that crimson flame,<br>Leaving us lonely on the shores of night,<br>Home to Ponemah take his deathless fame.<br><br>Generous as a child, so wholly free<br>From all base pride, that fools forgot his crown,<br>He adored Beauty, in pure ecstasy,<br>And waived the mere rewards of his renown.<br><br>The spark that falls from heaven not oft on earth,<br>To human hearts this vital splendour gives;<br>His was the simple, true, immortal birth!<br>Scholars compose; but This Man's Music Lives!<br><br>Greater than England or than Earth discerned,<br>He never paltered with his art for gain,<br>When many a vaunted crown to dust is turned,<br>This uncrowned king shall take his throne and reign.