Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
My Beads
By Abram Joseph Ryan (18381886)S
With one of you for richest gem
That gleams in kingly diadem;
Ye know the history of my heart.
In all the days of twenty years,
And I have moistened you with tears,
And in your decades found relief.
And joys have died; but in my needs
Ye were my friends, my blessed beads!
And ye consoled me when I wailed.
My weary fingers wandered round
Your circled chain, and always found
In some Hail Mary sweet relief.
Of inner life, to all unknown;
I trusted you and you alone,
But ah, ye keep my secrets well!
A sign that I am but the slave,
In life, in death, beyond the grave,
Of Jesus and His Mother fair.