And ever my heart through the night shall with knowledge
abide thee,
And ever by day shall my spirit, as one that hath tried thee,
Labor, at leisure, in art, till yonder beside thee
My soul shall float, friend Sun,
The day being done.
JOHN BANISTER TABB
[John Banister Tabb, more commonly called Father Tabb, was born in Virginia in 1845. During the Civil War he served on a blockade runner, and, being captured, he was imprisoned in Point Lookout prison, where he became the friend of Sidney Lanier. In 1872 he began to teach and to write verses, and in 1884 he privately published his first volume of poems. In the meantime he had been ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, and had become professor of English in St. Charles College, Maryland. There he died in 1909. He has published, at various times, some seven or eight volumes of verse.]
MY STAR 1
Since the dewdrop holds the star The long night through, Perchance the satellite afar Reflects the dew. And while thine image in my heart Doth steadfast shine; There, haply, in thy heaven apart Thou keepest mine. 1 The selections from Tabb are here reprinted through the kind permission of the holder of the copyright, Small, Maynard Company.
