One of the most brilliant men who ever lived...(from opium to freedom)

This is the second-to-last poem ever written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

My Baptismal Birthday

God's child in Christ adopted, - Christ my all, -
What that earth boasts were not lost cheaply, rather
Than forfeit that blest name, by which I call
The Holy One, the Almighty God, my Father? -
Father! in Christ we live, and Christ in Thee -
Eternal Thou, and everlasting we.
The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death:
In Christ I live! in Christ I draw the breath
Of the true life! - Let, then, earth, sea, and sky
Make war against me! On my front I show
Their mighty Master's seal. In vain they try
To end my life, that can but end its woe. -
Is that a deathbed, where a Christian lies? -
Yes! but not his - 'tis Death itself that dies.

This is the last:

Epitaph

Stop, Christian passer-by!--Stop, child of God,
And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he.--
O, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.;
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in life, may here find life in death!
Mercy for praise--to be forgiven for fame
He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same!


(dated November 9th, 1833. He died on July 25, 1834.)