St Marys High School - Labarum Yearbook (Saginaw, MI)

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Life is real! life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal, Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul , sings Longfellow in his oft repeated yet ever inspiring Psalm of Life. Shakespeare, the World's greatest poet, pictures life in seven great ages, tracing man from first an infant in the nurse's arms, to second childish- ness and mere oblivion. No poet has voiced more clearly life's duties, trials, and consola- tions than our own priest-poet, Father Abram Ryan, in his exquisite poem to which he has given the modest title, And And And And A Thought. our dim eyes ask a beacon, and our weary feet a guide, our hearts of all life's mysteries seek the meaning and the key, a cross gleams o'er our pathway-on it hangs the Crucifled, He answers all our yearnings by the whisper, Follow Me. To follow God is truly life's great purpose-to follow Him through life brings its burdens, as it must-to dare its duties, to wear, if need be, its crown of thorns-holding fast to our faith which tells us that after the cross, will surely come the crown! -Mary M. McIntosh, '22 1.,..0....t .g APRIL RAIN Silver April days that bring Promise of the coming spring, From your jewel sprinkled hills Troop gay yellow daffodils. And the birch trees all about Bring their gayest dresses outg Crocus in the meadow grass Lifts its chalice as you pass, Wild blooms follow in your train Each one loving April Rain. -Frances A. Ryan, '22

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EVENTIDE The blossoms nestling at my feet, Are nodding in their dreams, Beyond the oak tree's deepening glooms A fireiiy lantern gleams. My petals white are folded, With what content I may, To wait another morning That dances on its way. -Frances A. Ryan, '22 ii.T0. Life. With locks of gold today, Tomorrow, silver gray, Then blossom bald. Behold O man, thy future told! The Dandelion -Father Tabb. Life! What is it? A shadow on the garden wall, the brushing of a bird's wing against the boughg the murmur of a brook that sparkles on its way to the sea, a cloud that veils the horizon, now dark and threat- ening, now opening into vistas brilliant in silver and gold! It is the moan of the mother, the startled cry of the tiny babe, the yearning of the youth, the pensive dream of the maid. A day is so long, cries the child, awaiting tomorroW's holiday. A week is so long, complains the lad who plants in the earth a seed and impatiently looks for its grow- ing. A year is so long, breathes the maiden-uso long till I wear the raiment which shall mark me the spouse of my Heavenly King. Ten years are not long, cries the gray-haired man, lifting his head in pride, not long till I stand above my peers in the work that shall give me fame. Life is so short, sigh the aged, their faltering steps guided by the ten- der hand of son or daughter. Can it be I have lived so many years- many indeed in the counting but ah, so few in their passing? What is life? A time for eating and drinking, so make merry while ye may, answers the pagan. What is life? Precious time given us by God in which to save our souls, exclaims the Christian. Here today, tomorrow gone, today showing a smiling face, tomorrow masked with a frown. As evanescent as the gauzy wing of the butterfly, yet so sure and strong in its weaving that it may bear the soul to the very feet of God to abide for all eternity. Life! Mystery so profound that no mind can fathom it, so high, no human reach can grasp its meaning- one that poet and scientist have sought means of expressing and of un- ravelling. But the scientist in his quest drags us down into the mire, the poet lifts us to etherial heights.

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The Shepherd at Rest White Shepherd of domains that stretched afar Beyond the seven hills of storied Rome, Lonely the flocks that thou wert wont to tend For at the dawn thy Master signalled Come And lo! the heart so gentle, yet so strong Grew still beneath that robe's symbolic sheen Donned but a little space ago and yet How rich in fruitage are these years between! O gracious heart, so sure to feel and see! O gracious hands, so quick to aid and bless! Thy labors ended, there awaits for thee The eternal crown and palm of Righteousness. -Frances A. Ryan, '22