Sweet, blessed beads! I would not part With one of you for richest gem That gleams in kingly diadem; Ye know the history of my heart. For I have told you every grief In all the days of twenty years, And I have moistened you with tears, And in your decades found relief. Ah! time has fled, and friends have failed And joys have died; but in my needs Ye were my friends, my blessed beads! And ye consoled me when I wailed. For many and many a time, in grief, My weary fingers wandered round Thy circled chain, and always found In some Hail Mary sweet relief. How many a story you might tell Of inner life, to all unknown; I trusted you and you alone, But ah! ye keep my secrets well. Ye are the only chain I wear -- A sign that I am but the slave, In life, in death, beyond the grave, Of Jesus and His Mother fair. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE TO FEAR by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) THE INVITATION by GEORGE HERBERT ULTIMA THULE: NIGHT by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by MARIA ABDY MEMORY by AMANDA LUELLA BARLOW DON'T BE DOWN-HEARTED (A PHILOSOPHIC POME) by BERTON BRALEY EPIGRAM ON THE COUNTESS OF SOMERSET'S PICTURE by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |