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 heart home-- It reaches the haven through tears.

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