Abram Joseph Ryan Poems

The brook that down the valley
So musically drips,
Flowed never half so brightly
As the light laugh from her lips.
...

Old trees, old trees! in your mystic gloom
There's many a warrior laid,
And many a nameless and lonely tomb
Is sheltered beneath your shade.
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Forth from its scabbard, pure and bright,
Flashed the sword of Lee!
Far in the front of the deadly fight,
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Better than grandeur, better than gold,
Than rank and titles a thousand fold,
Is a healthy body and a mind at ease,
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Before an Altar

I wish I were the little key
That locks Love's Captive in,
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Furl that Banner, for 'tis weary;
Round its staff 'tis drooping dreary;
Furl it, fold it, it is best;
For there's not a man to wave it,
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First champion of the Crucified!
Who, when the fight began
Between the Church and worldly pride
So nobly fought, so nobly died,
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Lost! Lost! Lost!
The cry went up from a sea --
The waves were wild with an awful wrath,
Not a light shone down on the lone ship's path;
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Young as the youngest who donned the Gray,
True as the truest that wore it,
Brave as the bravest he marched away,
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Sometimes the Saviour sleeps, and it is dark;
For, oh! His eyes are this world's only light,
And when they close wild waves rush on His bark,
...