Tabb Centenary Year XLIX

Five lyrics by Rev. John B. Tabb.

The Grave-Digger

Here underneath the sod,
   Where night till now hath been,
With every lifted clod
   I let the sunshine in.

How dark soe’er the gloom
   Of Death’s approaching shade,
The first within the tomb
   Is light, that cannot fade.

And from the deepest grave
   I banish it in vain;
For, like a tidal wave,
   Anon ’twill come again.

March 1907 (p. 186, Life, Death and Similar Themes: Miscellaneous)

Intimations

I knew the flowers had dreamed of you,
   And hailed the morning with regret;
For all their faces with the dew
   Of vanished joy were wet.

I knew the winds had passed your way,
   Though not a sound the truth betrayed;
About their pinions all the day
   A summer fragrance stayed.

And so, awaking or asleep,
   A memory of lost delight
By day the sightless breezes keep,
   And silent flowers by night.

May 1891 (p. 153, Life, Death and Similar Themes: Memory)

Aspiration

I envy not the sun
   His lavish light;
But O to be the one
   Pale orb of night,
In silence and alone
Communing with mine own!

I envy not the rain
   That freshens all
The parching hill and plain;
   But O the small
Night-dewdrop now to be,
My noonday flower, for thee!

September 1900 (p. 250, Himself and Others)

Consummation

The interval
We both recall,
To each was all.

A moment’s space
That time nor place
Can e’er efface.

’Tis all our own,
A secret known
To us alone:

My life to thee,
As thine to me,
Eternity.

1902 (p. 252, Himself and Others)

Finis

O to be with thee sinking to thy rest,
                     Thy journey done;
The world thou leavest blessing thee and blest,
                     O setting sun;
The clouds, that ne’er the morning joys forget,
                     Again aglow,
And leaf and flower with tears of twilight wet
                     To see thee go.

1910 (p. 249, Himself and Others)

[“Finis”: Latin, the end.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 09/13/09 07:25:55 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.