Abram Joseph Ryan Poems

To-day -- fifty years at the altar --
Thou art, as of old, at thy post!
Tell us, O chasubled soldier!
...

The Master's voice was sweet:
'I gave My life for thee;
Bear thou this cross thro' pain and loss,
Arise and follow Me.'
...

A Mystery

His face was sad; some shadow must have hung
Above his soul; its folds, now falling dark,
...

Over the silent sea of sleep,
Far away! far away!
Over a strange and starlit deep
Where the beautiful shadows sway;
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Go, words of mine! and if you live
Only for one brief, little day;
If peace, or joy, or calm you give
To any soul; or if you bring
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Unroll Erin's flag! fling its folds to the breeze!
Let it float o'er the land, let it flash o'er the seas!
...

I saw his face to-day; he looks a chief
Who fears not human rage, nor human guile;
Upon his cheeks the twilight of a grief,
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I nearly died, I almost touched the door
That swings between forever and no more;
I think I heard the awful hinges grate,
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Into a temple vast and dim,
Solemn and vast and dim,
Just when the last sweet Vesper Hymn
Was floating far away,
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Dreary! weary!
Weary! dreary!
Sighs my soul this lonely night.
Farewell gladness!
...