Tabb Centenary Year VIII

Three poems on Sidney Lanier by Rev. John B. Tabb.

Lanier’s Flute

When palsied at the pool of thought
   The Poet’s words were found,
Thy voice the healing Angel brought
   To touch them into sound.

1897 (p. 348, Quatrains: Persons)

To Sidney Lanier

The dewdrop holds the heaven above,
   Wherein a lark, unseen,
Outpours a rhapsody of love
   That fills the space between.

My heart a dewdrop is, and thou,
   Dawn-spirit, far away,
Fillest the void between us now
   With an immortal lay.

1894 (p. 261, Himself and Others)

At Lanier’s Grave

I stand beside a comrade tree
That guards the spot where thou art laid;
For since thy light is lost to me
   I loiter in the shade.

I lean upon the rugged stone
As on the breast from whence I came,
To learn ’tis not my heart alone
   That bears thy sacred name.

November 1892 (p. 262, Himself and Others)

[The poet Sidney Lanier, with whom Father Tabb had become friends while both were prisoners of war, was born this day, February 3, 1842. “Lanier’s Flute”: the two men met when the sound of Lanier playing the flute out of sight drew Tabb to go and look for him; the poem’s imagery alludes to John 5:1-4. “To Sidney Lanier”: a lay is a poem written to be set to music.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 02/03/09 03:08:46 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year.