Beauty of Embers

vaisvil

On Growing Old by John Masefield

• an excerpt read by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1940, the year of Scott’s death.

Be with me, Beauty, for the fire is dying;
My dog and I are old, too old for roving.
Man, whose young passion sets the spindrift flying,
Is soon too lame to march, too cold for loving.
I take the book and gather to the fire,
Turning old yellow leaves; minute by minute
The clock ticks to my heart. A withered wire,
Moves a thin ghost of music in the spinet.
I cannot sail your seas, I cannot wander
Your hill-land, nor your cornland, nor your valleys
Ever again, nore share the battle yonder
Where the young knight the broken squadron rallies.
Only stay quiet while my mind remembers
The beauty of fire from the beauty of embers.

Scored for various percussion, Fender Mustang lead guitar, Fender Mustang rhythm guitar, GR-20 strings, electric piano, GR-20 fretless bass and a touch of sitar.