The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-09-26
PRELU1Es
A VOLUME or POEMS FROM THE
PEN OF A RELIGIOUS.

This little book of poems by Sister
Mary Clara, B. v. NJ, of Mount ST
Joseph College, Dubuque, presents
varied Illustrations of the lines chosen
as foreword:
Love sings on earth in plaintive
minor keys
Faint prelHdes of Life's fuller har
monies"
| The themes are mostly occasional
some personal experience, passing
| incident, a trait of Nature or aspect
of the seasons, some mood of Joy or
sorrow, a failure. or fulfilment ali
touched with spiritual significance
The poems are brief swallow-f1ights OF
song: all recall her song of swallows
homing at eventide, for the goal of
her poems, however wide an earthly
circuit they may fetch, is. ever the
home of the Father in Heaven.
Her muse is cloistral in it's mys-
ticism, the world Of sense being to
her symbol of the spiritual world.
The author has sensitive feeling for
nature which she voices in some
lifting song of spring and summer, or
autumn threnody, in some land or
sea-scape delicately realized. "On the
Lake." "Indian Summer Expires.
sion," AN April Song, are examples
of sights and sounds of Nature
unsteady rendered. Yet all earth s
voices are to her only preludes Of
some spirit-song which transcends
their glad earth-cry in iubilation. The
re-bIrth of spring best expresses it.
self in terms of the Resurrection and
the virginia. charm of May in thoughts
of Our Lady While the appeal of
the human is. also expressed, yet
through all earthly experience sounds
'ethe still, small voice" calling one to
forsake all and seek the things that
are above. This thought is finely eX-
pressed in the poem vocation. -
Everywhere the complex of: human
life, with it's joy and pain, is envisaged
from the viewpoint of the Divine pur-
pose which orders and dfsposes all
things sWeetly toward their appointed
end. Thus, Soul to Soul" pierees be-
hind the Veil and penetrates to the
spiritual import of the things seen
here as in a glass darby" All the
poems attest vision which discerns
in human loss a Divine recompense
lin trial and sorrow gracious
Christening, in suffering a, vicarious
efficacy OF poems purely devotional
First Friday" "Magnes Animarum, y
and 20 Queen of May" might fifty be
called prayer in verse.
Among the longer poems are two
dramatic monologues of outstanding
merit. Columbus at Valladolid" is a
splendid imaginative presentation of
the last moments of the world
mariner, and rises worthily to the
height of it's great theme. 1t is
quite convincing in it's vivid reality
this retrospect, broken by delirium,
whispered by the dying Columbus to
his Confessor. The inception of his
high enterprise is expressed in the
large utterance of greatness:
81 know not how or when my dream
began.
Perhaps the sphere the. Christ; Child
held empalmed,
Or far Atlantis, Plato's fancied isle,
The Tuscan's vision, or the Stagirite
Awoke that irresistible desire
Ordained by God to work His pur-
poses.'
Nor can we refrain from quoting
the splendid close which describes the
quiet contamination of his life, his
final crossing the bar:
Zone more, O Father, say 'Absolvo
te'-
In manus tuas, Domine,-at last
My keel has cut into the Silent Sea;
No surging pillows roar, but all is
still
Calm as the waters near San Sal
Does morning break with all it's olden
charm,
ascension niorn?-Yon dayspring
seems
A light that shines from an eternal
shore!"
The other, "a Philosopher" is in
the manner of Browning, and the sub
iect, though the treatment is quite
original, recalls that of Bishop Blou-
grants Apology. -
The poems are written in variety
of forms-lyric, sonnet, blank-verse,
and show a mastery of technique. The
measure trips lightly to thoughts of
simple JOY, or fingers gravely in medi.
tation. Some of the quatrains, notably
1.-THE Winepress," recall the concision
of Father Tabb The tenor of the
little volume is admirably lightened
by the sprightliness of 1.-The Fugue, ;"
which is delightful in it's reverent
playfulness.
THE FUGUE.