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ELEGY FOR LADY DAY

'For all we know, this may be only be a dream
We come and go like the ripples on a stream'
Thus it was you sang with body wracked and failing
Yet with that unmistakable voice and phrasing

Lady Day we'll never be the same
With such an ache of loss in our heart and soul
But we'll remember you in your youth and fame
Before slings and arrows of life had taken their toll

Those songs already works of fabulous invention
The classics of Gershwin, Berlin, Arlen, Porter and Kerne
You brought to each a new meter, form and dimension
Wherein your creative magic could be discerned

Your songs though not new: the tunes nor the lyrics they bore
Each verse, each phrase was recreated there and then
It was as though it had never been sung before
We knew the song but knew not from where nor when

Stream of words and melody now traced a different bed
Like a brook in which every ripple, rill and eddy
Followed new bends and flows of another stead
To be answered and enhanced by Lester and Teddy.   *

In a time when injustice and cruelty was a curse in the nation
And you as a talented black girl knew it well
A 'strange and wonderful fruit' was borne of your innovation
You became an icon, a symbol to ring freedom's bell

So in distant England, when I first heard that voice
Then I knew that it was a unique and special sound
I saw that here was something to rejoice
And in my mind this queen of song was crowned

Let us therefore not make this a 'gloomy Sunday'
Let no 'black coach of night' disturb our mood
Give thanks that one so beautiful came to us one day
And enhanced our lives to be more joyfully viewed 

* Lester Young and Teddy Wilson

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