Poets of the South / A Series of Biographical and Critical Studies with Typical Poems, Annotated

by F. V. N. Painter

NIGHT THOUGHTS [16]

Some reckon their age by years,
Some measure their life by art,—
But some tell their days by the flow of their tears,
And their life, by the moans of their heart.

The dials of earth may show
The length—not the depth of years;
Few or many they come, few or many they go,
But our time is best measured by tears.

Ah! not by the silver gray
That creeps through the sunny hair,
And not by the scenes that we pass on our way,
And not by the furrows the fingers of care,

On forehead and face, have made:
Not so do we count our years;
Not by the sun of the earth, but the shade
Of our souls, and the fall of our tears.

For the young are oft-times old,
Though their brow be bright and fair;
While their blood beats warm, their heart lies cold—
O'er them the springtime, but winter is there.

And the old are oft-times young,
When their hair is thin and white;
And they sing in age, as in youth they sung,
And they laugh, for their cross was light.

But bead by bead I tell
The rosary of my years;
From a cross to a cross they lead,—'tis well!
And they're blest with a blessing of tears.

Better a day of strife
Than a century of sleep;
Give me instead of a long stream of life,
The tempests and tears of the deep.

A thousand joys may foam
On the billows of all the years;
But never the foam brings the brave [17] heart home—
It reaches the haven through tears.

For a general introduction to Father Ryan's poetry, see Chapter VI.

[Footnote 1: As stated in the sketch of Father Ryan, this poem strikes the keynote to his verse. It therefore properly opens his volume of poems. It became popular on its first publication, and was copied in various papers. It is here taken from the Religious Herald, Richmond, Virginia.]

[Footnote 2: The location of The Valley of Silence is given in the last stanza.]

[Footnote 3: This poem may be taken, in a measure, as autobiographic. In this stanza, and the two following ones, the poet refers to that period of his life before he resolved to consecrate himself to the priesthood.]

[Footnote 4: This indicates the general character of his poetry. Inspired in The Valley of Silence, it is sad, meditative, mystical, religious.]

[Footnote 5: Perhaps every poet has this experience. There come to him elusive glimpses of truth and beauty which are beyond the grasp of speech. As some one has sung:—

"Sometimes there rise, from deeps unknown,
Before my inmost gaze,
Far brighter scenes than earth has shown
In morning's orient blaze;
I try to paint the visions bright,
But, oh, their glories turn to night!">[

[Footnote 6: This poem was first published in Father Ryan's paper, the Banner of the South, March 21, 1868, from which it is here taken. Coming so soon after the close of the Civil War, it touched the Southern heart.]

[Footnote 7: For a criticism of the versification of this stanza, see the chapter on Father Ryan.]

[Footnote 8: This note of pardon, in keeping with the poet's priestly character, is found in several of his lyrics referring to the war. In spite of his strong Southern feeling, there is no unrelenting bitterness. Thus, in The Prayer of the South, which appeared a week later, we read:—

"Father, I kneel 'mid ruin, wreck, and grave,—
A desert waste, where all was erst so fair,—
And for my children and my foes I crave
Pity and pardon. Father, hear my prayer!">[

[Footnote 9: This was the poet's feeling in 1868. In a similar strain we read in The Prayer of the South:—

"My heart is filled with anguish deep and vast!
My hopes are buried with my children's dust!
My joys have fled, my tears are flowing fast!
In whom, save Thee, our Father, shall I trust?"

Happily the poet lived to see a new order of things—an era in which vain regrets gave place to energetic courage, hope, and endeavor.]

[Footnote 10: This poem first appeared in the Banner of the South,
April 4, 1868, and, like the preceding one, has been very popular in the
South.]

[Footnote 11: Father Ryan felt great admiration for General Lee, who has remained in the South the popular hero of the war. In the last of his Sentinel Songs, the poet-priest pays a beautiful tribute to the stainless character of the Confederate leader:—

"Go, Glory, and forever guard
Our chieftain's hallowed dust;
And Honor, keep eternal ward,
And Fame, be this thy trust!
Go, with your bright emblazoned scroll
And tell the years to be,
The first of names to flash your roll
Is ours—great Robert Lee.">[

[Footnote 12: This poem was first published in the Banner of the South, April 25, 1868. It illustrates the profounder themes on which the poet loved to dwell, and likewise the Christian faith by which they were illumined.]

[Footnote 13: This mournful view of life appears frequently in Father
Ryan's poems. In De Profundis, for example, we read:—

"All the hours are full of tears—
O my God! woe are we!
Grief keeps watch in brightest eyes—
Every heart is strung with fears,
Woe are we! woe are we!
All the light hath left the skies,
And the living, awe-struck crowds
See above them only clouds,
And around them only shrouds.">[

[Footnote 14: This poem, as the two preceding ones, is taken from the Banner of the South, where it appeared June 13, 1868. It affords a glimpse of the tragical romance of the poet's life. The voice that he hears is that of "Ethel," the lost love of his youth. Her memory never left him. In the poem entitled What? it is again her spirit voice that conveys to his soul an ineffable word.]

[Footnote 15: This desire for death occurs in several poems, as When? and Rest. In the latter poem it is said:—

"'Twas always so; when but a child I laid
On mother's breast
My wearied little head—e'en then I prayed
As now—for rest.">[

[Footnote 16: This poem is taken from the Banner of the South, where it appeared June 29, 1870. In the volume of collected poems the title is changed to The Rosary of my Tears.]

[Footnote 17: "Brave" is changed to "lone" in the poet's revision.]