Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CONVENT PORTER, by CARROLL RYAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CONVENT PORTER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He was an ancient, bearded man
Last Line: And took the old man praying.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ryan, William Thomas Carroll
Subject(s): Death; Old Age; Prayer; Dead, The


He was an ancient, bearded man,
Within the archway seated,
Who through the summer, lone and long,
His Rosary repeated.
He rang the bell for Matin prayers,
At noontide for the reapers,
And, when the evening shadows fell,
He rang it for the keepers;
And, sometimes, too, he tolled a knell
For everlasting sleepers.

From day to day he said his beads,
Within the archway staying;
The sun arising found him there,
And, setting, left him praying.
On him would little hands attend,
And little footfalls pattered
Around him; where the fig trees bend,
Where purple treasures scattered;
The whisp'ring cypress was his friend,
For him the ivy chattered.

But seldom at that Convent gate
A traveller dismounted;
The outer world of love and hate
Passed by it unaccounted,
Monotonous, and quaint, and calm,
The prayerful seasons glided,
The vesper hymn and morning psalm
The days alone divided,
That by the dial, near the palm,
Were left but undecided.

So years went by, until one day
The night cloud, westward rolling,
Came round the Friar's dim retreat,
Without the Vesper tolling.
The birds still sang on ivy sprays,
The children still were playing,
The Porter, as in former days,
Seemed Rosaries still saying;
But Death had found his quiet ways,
And took the old man praying.





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