"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.]