Irish Jesuit Province

FleetingAuthor(s): Gerald GriffinSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 23, No. 259 (Jan., 1895), pp. 38-39Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20498760 .

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38 Thie Irish Monthly,

deal of that artistic skill, of which the secular magazines of America

were the first to set the example. Father O'Neill therefore speaks from experience and to a certain extent pro domo sud: but he takes by

no means a selfish or narrow view of the subiect, which, as he mentions, he has often treated from the pulpit. One of his sub-headings, " the

Apostolate of Good Reading," indicates here a course of thought very

different from the pleasant homily which among Father Faber's

Spiritual Conferencesbears the title, "A Taste for Reading a Help in

the Spiritual Life." This American member of the -Order of Friars Preachers, whose style proves, that he is Irish in more than name, says

a great many striking and suggestive things, which. however, suit the

circumstances of Catholics in the United States; and these of course

are different frtm ours. It would be well if some qualified priest

treated the subject as it regards the clergy in the pages of our Eccle

siastical Record. He will find help and inspiration in Father O'Neill's

vigorous lecture on " Catholic Literature in Catholic Homes."

FLEETING*.

13Y GERALD GRIFFIN.

rl:E stream that hurries by yon fixed shore,

Returns no more. The wind that dries at morn yon dewy lawn

Breathes and is gone. Those withered flowers to Summer's ripening glow

No more shall blow. Those fallen'leaves that strew yon garden bed

For aye are dead.

Of laugh, of jest, of mirth, of pleasure past

Nothing shall last.

On shore, on sea, on hill, on dale, on plain Nought shall iremain.

Of all for which poor mortals daily mourn

Nought shall return. Life hath its hour in heaven and earth beneath,

And so hath death,

These lines were shown to me in October 1869, by the poet's sister-in-law, the widow of Dr. Daniel Griffin. They had not then been published, though dated " Pallas, October 10th, 1836."-Ed. 1 M.

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Fleeting. 39

Not all the chains that clank in eastern clime Can fetter Time.

For all the potent charms in doctor's store Youth comes no more.

No drug on Age's wrinkled cheek renews Life's early hues.

Not all the tears by pious mourners shed Can wake the dead.

For all Spring gives and Winter, takes again We grieve in vain.

Vainly for sunshine fled and joys gone by We have a sigh.

On, ever on, with unexhausted breath Time hastes to death.

Even with each word we speak a moment flies, Is born and dies.

If thus through lower nature's empire wide Nothing abide.

If wind and wave and leaf and sun and flower Have each their hour:

He walks on ice whose dallying spirit clings To earthly things;

And he alone is'wise whose well-taught love Is fixed above.

Truths firm as bright, but oft to mortal ear Chilling and drear,

THarsh as the raven's croak the7sounds that tell Of pleasure's knell.

Prav, reader, that at least the minstrel's strain Not all be vain,

And when thou bend'st to God the suppliant Remember me.

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