Mary C. Ryan Poetry: Hope, Love, Faith and Memory

Silently fell great drops of dew,
Upon a garden fair,
Then noiselessly the flowers grew,
As if by magic there.
In silence came the rose’s sweet breath,
Each flow’ret’s brilliant hue;
Trees robed in green, and e’en o’er earth,
A canopy of blue.

But noiselessly the golden light,
Became a sombre hue,
When the dark goddess of the night
Passed o’er the sky of blue.
Then silently came the hoar frost,
And nipped the flowers fair,
Each drooped and pined upon the stalk,
Withered in silence there.

Thus round the sun so noiselessly,
This great orb whirls with speed,
As ages of eternity
Pass with a silent tread.
Without a jar nature performs
Each task assigned by God,
Marred only by some sudden storms,
Strokes of His chast’ning rod.

E’en silently years pass away,
And leave us unawares;
The young grow old, but can not say
When ’twas, nor how, nor where.
So listlessly as time passes by,
We learn its truths too late;
Amazed we live, and love, and die,
Then meet an unknown fate.

Midst scenes of distress, oh! what would we do,
If God’s love like His rainbow was not there,
Encircling the world, with its chasms of woe,
Where the sin-burdened souls writhe in despair?

Our heart’s strings would snap, when life’s cold storms blow,
Blighting the hopes of our sunniest hour,
If the soul in its anguish then did not know
That all things were made and ruled by God’s pow’r.

Alone on life’s sea, oh! where would we drift,
If God’s love did not encircle the soul;
Bearing it onward to faith’s tow’ring cliff,
As the ages of eternity roll?

Our bark would be wrecked, on some rocky shore,
Where powers of darkness ever would reign,
If we knew not, when our voyage was o’er,
That smiles of our Lord would banish all pain.

When sowing the wheat and reaping the tares,
And struggling to rise, we stumble and fall,
What could we do, to escape Satan’s snares,
If God’s love was not a refuge for all?

Sweet angel of joy! O beautiful Hope!
With jewel-tipped wings e’er ready for flight,
Thy siren songs, by moon’s silver light,
Despair and sorrow oft will envelop
In a halo of bliss, till both are lost
In joy’s bright cloud. Hope, thou anchor of life,
Which saves the weary in the world’s great strife
When helplessly they, by storm’s fury tossed,
A soul in anguish a long lonesome day
Rejoices ever thy sweet voice to ken.
So, beautiful Hope, chase woe far away
With thy bright allurements pure and serene.
May we enjoy thy smiles all the way,
Through earth’s mystic vale, oh! ever be seen.

O God! how can it ever be,
That I Thy glorious face can see,
Be cleansed from sin by Thy Son’s blood,
Which for man’s sins so freely flowed?
That when Thou comest with Thy band
Of mighty angels fair and grand,
To make Thy jewels up for Thee,
That Thou wilt then remember me?

But, ah! how can I ever be
A jewel bright and glow for Thee,
And live with Thee in that fair land,
And with Thy hosts of angels stand?
For now I am so vile and weak,
But trembling, lone, Thy ways I seek,
Thy blood to cleanse. Thy love to guide,
And lead me to my Saviour’s side.