 | The banshee and other poems |  |
125
IN MEMORIAM.
EDWARD WILLIAM GODWIN.
Obiit. Oct. 1886.
A man of men, born to be genial king,By frank election, of the artist kind,
Attempting all things, and on everything
Setting the signet of a master mind.
What others dreamed amiss, he did aright:
His dreams were visions of art's golden age:
Yet, self-betrayed, he fell in Fortune's spite,
His royal birthright sold for scanty wage.
The best of comrades, winning old and young
With keen audacious charm, dandling the fool
That pleased his humour, but with scathing tongue
For blatant pedants of the bungler school.
They tell me he had faults—I know of one:
Dying too soon, he left his best undone.
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