Three by Tabb

Poems by Father John Banister Tabb.

The Plaint of the Rose

Said the budding Rose, "All night
Have I dreamed of the joyous light;
   How long doth my lord delay!
Come, Dawn, and kiss from mine eyes away
The dewdrops cold and the shadows gray
   That hide thee from my sight!"

Said the full-blown Rose, "O Light!
(So fair to the dreamer's sight!)
   How long doth the dew delay!
Come back, sweet sister shadows gray
And lead me home from the world away
   To the calm of the cloister Night!"

(October 1889)

Exaltation

O leaf upon the highest bough,
The poet of the woods art thou
   To whom alone 'tis given—
The farthest from thy place of birth—
To hold communion with the earth
   Nor lose the light of heaven.

O leaf upon the topmost height,
Amid thy heritage of light
   Unsheltered by a shade,
'Tis thine the loneliness to know
That leans for sympathy below
   Nor finds what it hath made.

(May 1895)

My Portion

I know not what a day may bring;
For now 'tis sorrow that I sing,
   And now 'tis joy.
In both a father's hand I see;
For one renews the man in me,
   And one the boy.

(September 1909)

The Poetry of Father Tabb (1928) pp. 8, 26, and 146f.
ed. Francis A. Litz, Ph.D.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 07/13/03 04:30:37 PM
Categorized as Literary & Sunday Poetry Series.