Tabb Centenary Year XXXI

A sonnet on John Henry Newman by Rev. John B. Tabb.

To His Eminence Cardinal Newman

Father—for loftier titles cannot hide
The tenderness of thy paternity
From eyes that turn with filial gaze to thee—
Sons of thy Faith across the ocean wide,
Led of thy light from paths unsanctified,
Thine own begotten, though unseen are we.
Thy loss, thy gain, we count our own to be;
And now our hearts exulting in the tide
Of favors shed upon thee from the hand
Whose grace outgrows its giving, fondly glow
With more than silent syllables express;
O, westward, as the sunshine to our land
Still let thy love, a light perpetual, flow,
Thy children, bowed in reverence, to bless.

May 1879 (p. 279, Sonnets)

[Ven. John Henry Newman was created a cardinal 130 years ago today, May 12, 1879, by Pope Leo XIII.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 05/12/09 08:04:59 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary & Religious.