Tabb Centenary Year X

Five quatrains by Rev. John B. Tabb.

Whisper

Close cleaving unto silence, into sound
   She ventures as a timorous child from land,
Still glancing, at each step, around,
   Lest suddenly she lose her sister’s hand.

September 1893 (p. 361, Quatrains: Miscellaneous)

Stilling the Tempest

’Twas all she could:—The gift that Nature gave,
   The torrent of her tresses, did she spill
Before His feet: and lo, the troubled wave
   Of passion heard His whisper, “Peace, be still!”

April 1895 (p. 362, Quatrains: Miscellaneous)

The Bubble

Why should I stay? Nor seed nor fruit have I.
   But, sprung at once to beauty’s perfect round,
   Nor loss, nor gain, nor change in me is found—
A life-complete in death-complete to die.

October 1891 (p. 358, Quatrains: Miscellaneous)

Sleep

What art thou, balmy sleep?
“Foam from the fragrant deep
Of silence, hither blown
From the hushed waves of tone.”

September 1892 (p. 360, Quatrains: Miscellaneous)

Silence

A sea wherein the rivers of all sound
   Their streams incessant pour,
But whence no tide returning e’er hath found
   An echo on the shore.

August 1894 (p. 364, Quatrains: Miscellaneous)

[“Stilling the Tempest”: the poem skillfully amalgamates the Gospel stories of the sinful woman washing the Lord’s feet with her hair, Luke 7:36-50, and of the Lord Jesus calming the waves, Mark 4:35-40.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 02/15/09 04:45:22 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.