Tabb’s Poetry XXXVI

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The Voyagers

The Spring in festival array,
From Death to Life, from Night to Day,
   Came floating o’er the main;
And now with banners brave and bright,
From Life to Death, from Day to Night,
   The Autumn drifts again. 

Mater Dolorosa

Again maternal Autumn grieves,
As blood-like drip the maple leaves
   On Nature’s Calvary,
And every sap-forsaken limb
Renews the mystery of Him
   Who died upon a Tree. 

Life’s Repetend

Do ye forget the blossom-time?
Or tint for tint, as rhyme for rhyme,
   Would ye, O leaves, supply;
To prove, as echo to the ear,
That Near is Far, and Far is Near,
   In circling home to die? 

A Rubric

The aster puts its purple on
   When flowers begin to fall,
To suit the solemn antiphon
   Of Autumn’s ritual;

And deigns, unwearied, to stand
   In robes pontifical,
Till Indian Summer leaves the land,
   And Winter spreads the pall.
 
Autumn-Glow

If this the preface be of death
   In crimson, green, and gold,
What wondrous art illumineth
   The story still untold?

John B. Tabb

For a recitation, click the play button:

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“The Voyagers”: Poems, p. 13; Poetry, p. 86. September 1892. The main is the sea.

“Mater Dolorosa”: Lyrics, p. 96; Poetry, p. 91. April 1896. Mater Dolorosa: Latin, sorrowful mother; traditionally applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross on Calvary, the hill near Jerusalem on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified; the word comes from Calvarius, Latin for the Hebrew Golgotha; see Matthew 27:33.

“Life’s Repetend”: Later Lyrics, p. 22; Poetry, p. 116. April 1899. A repetend is a refrain or repetition.

“A Rubric”: Lyrics, p. 111; Poetry, p. 13. October 1895. This poem, part and parcel, is an elaborate extended metaphor on the Church’s worship: rubrics are instructions and directions for celebrating the liturgy; purple is the liturgical color of affliction and melancholy; an antiphon is a short refrain; pontifical robes are vestments worn by bishops and other prelates; Indian Summer is a warm spell when the leaves are in color; the pall is a long cloth draped over a coffin, to which the fall of snow corresponds.

“Autumn-Glow”: Father Tabb, p. 191; Poetry, p. 368. November 1900.

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