Comfort's warm door 'gainst him was bolted fast, Men heeded not his piping in the rain; Unheard, awhile, he played a wondrous strain Of melody; but ah, Neglect's cold blast Soon chilled his touch, his flute aside he cast In wan despair; from human haunts he hied And from Preferment's door,—his boyish pride Was wounded deep, and from men's midst there passed An angel soul! Oh, the eternal shame, They made his grave—as though among his peers— With paupers in Shoe Lane! But in the songs That lift the soul from common things one hears His wistful note; while in the Hall of Fame A lofty niche unto him now belongs! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A TRAMPWOMAN'S TRAGEDY by THOMAS HARDY FIRST OR LAST (SONG) by THOMAS HARDY FOR A MARRIAGE OF SAINT KATHERINE [OR, CATHERINE] by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI TO SPAIN - A LAST WORD by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS DUNCAN WEIR by ALEXANDER ANDERSON A SUNRISE IN MARCH by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |