Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES: RECITED AT A MASONIC BANQUET, by CARROLL RYAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES: RECITED AT A MASONIC BANQUET, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: From a plan by the wisest of sages
Last Line: A place in that high wall.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ryan, William Thomas Carroll
Subject(s): Speech; Oratory; Orators


From a plan by the wisest of Sages
Was built a magnificent arch
Over a path where, for ages,
Multitudes silently march.
They come from the valleys of sorrow,
And cities that are of the past,
They are seeking a glorious morrow,
Their shadows before them are cast.

They seek a city far away—
A city on a hill—
The weary footsteps may not stay,
Nor toiling hands be still;
For they all faithfully obey
The Master's word and will.

Each one among that multitude,
With hope, though oft in tears,
Has toiled in quarries strange and rude
For many weary years.
But now each one whose work is done,
With liberated hands,
Ascends the hill where brightly still
The Holy City stands,
To which is brought the ashlars wrought
In many distant lands.

And so each day the fabric grows
More beautiful and high,
Beneath the Master Architect—
The all beholding eye.
So let each one perform his share,
Brothers who labor all,
That perfect ashlars, we may bear
A place in that high wall.





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