The Dead Player

By John James Meehan

W. J. Florence was an American comedian who died on Nov. 19, 1891.

“ONLY a player dead!”

How light the words are said!

Each year the olden circle narrows down;

The shadows gather less,

The shoulders fewer press,

Upon the shield that guards the actor’s crown.

If in some life there be

A flitting memory,

A tear for love, a prayer for home, a smile

That these have made to come

In hearts to music dumb,

Is kinder deed engraved on tomb or pile?

Good night! The curtain falls:

When last the prompter calls,

Upon our eyes may grow another scene,

Where all the players gray

Shall fill the misty day,

With songs in woodland valleys soft and green.