| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | June 28 | | To John Boyle O’Reilly | | By James Berry Bensel (1856–1886) |
| | (Born June 28, 1844)
AS when a man along piano keys | |
| Trails a slow hand, and then with touch grown bold | |
| Strikes pealing chords, by some great master old | |
| Woven into a gem of melodies, | |
| All full of summer and the shout of seas,— | 5 |
| So do thy rhythmic songs my soul enfold. | |
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| First some sweet love-note, full as it can hold | |
| Of daintiness, comes like the hum of bees; | |
| Then, rising grandly, thou dost sound a chord | |
| That rings and clamors in the heart of hearts, | 10 |
| And dying as receding waves, departs | |
| Leaving us richer by a lusty hoard | |
| Of noble thoughts. | |
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| O poet! would that we | |
| Might strike one note like thine,—but just for thee! | 15 | | | |
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