Lines (Sometimes from the far-away)

Sometimes, from the far-away,

Wing a little thought to me;

In the night or in the day,

It will give a rest to me.

I have praise of many here,

And the world gives me renown;

Let it go – give me one tear,

'Twill be a jewel in my crown.

What care I for earthly fame?

How I shrink from all its glare!

I would rather that my name

Would be shrined in some one's prayer.

Many hearts are all too much,

Or too little in their praise;

I would rather feel the touch

Of one prayer that thrills all days.

— Abram J. Ryan

Photo by Dan Hardison
Montgomery, Alabama

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The Star's Song

God sings to man through all my rays
        That wreathe the brow of night,
And walks with me thro' all my ways –
        The everlasting light.


— Abram J. Ryan

Digitally Enhanced Photo
by Dan Hardison

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Yesterdays

Gone! and they return no more,

But they leave a light in the heart;

The murmur of waves that kiss a shore

Will never, I know, depart.

Gone! yet with us still they stay,

And their memories throb through life;

The music that hushes or stirs to-day,

Is toned by their calm or strife.

Gone! and yet they never go!

We kneel at the shrine of time:

‘Tis a mystery no man may know,

Nor tell in a poet’s rhyme.

— Abram J. Ryan
From his book "Poems: Patriotic, Religious, Miscellaneous"

Photo by Dan Hardison
Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

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