Tabb Centenary Year XXXVIII

Five poems by Rev. John B. Tabb.

Song of the Morning-Glories

We wedded each a star—
   A warrior true,
That plighted faith afar
   In drops of dew.

But comes the cruel dawn;
   The dew is dry;
And we, our lovers gone,
   Lamenting, die.

1897 (p. 17, Nature: Flowers)

Fog

The ghost am I
Of winds that die
   Alike on land or sea,
In silence deep
To shroud and keep
   Their mournful memory.

A spirit white
I stalk the night,
   Or, shadowing the skies,
Forbid the sun
To look upon
   My noonday mysteries.

March 1903 (p. 59, Nature: Clouds and Sky)

All in All

One heaven above;
But many a heaven below
The dewdrops show—
God’s tenderness
Subdued in every teardrop to express
   The whole of love.

April 1895 (p. 135, Life, Death and Similar Themes: Love)

To a Rose

Thou hast not toiled, sweet Rose,
   Yet needest rest;
Softly thy petals close
   Upon thy breast,
Like folded hands, of labor long oppressed.

Naught knowest thou of sin,
   Yet tears are thine;
Baptismal drops within
   Thy chalice shine,
At morning’s birth, at evening’s calm decline.

Alas! one day hath told
   The tale to thee!
Thy tender leaves enfold
   Life’s mystery:
Its shadow falls alike on thee and me!

1894 (p. 7, Nature: Flowers)

Moon-Flowers

The summer night remembers
   The morning glories slain,
And from the twilight embers
   Recalls their ghosts again.

November 1898 (p. 327, Nature: Flowers)

[“Song of the Morning-Glories”: the Morning Glory is a flowering plant whose blossoms usually last for only one morning, new blossoms opening each day. “To a Rose”: the Rose is a common perennial flowering shrub. “Moon-Flowers”: these are flowering plants of the genus Datura that bloom at night; most of the species have white flowers.]

The references (page number and section) are to The Poetry of Father Tabb, ed. Francis A. Litz, Ph.D. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1928). All of Tabb's poems published here in the Father Tabb Centenary Year were originally published before 1923.

Biblical references link to the New Advent Bible comprising Bishop Challoner's edition of the Douay-Rheims Bible (English) and the Sixto-Clementine edition of the Vulgate (Latin), since they are the versions which Father Tabb would have used as a Catholic.

The year 2009 is the centenary of the death of Rev. John Banister Tabb, November 19, 1909.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/28/09 11:53:05 AM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.