Skip to content
Linespedia

A Child's Wish

Topics: classic

Before an Altar     I wish I were the little key      That locks Love's Captive in,     And lets Him out to go and free      A sinful heart from sin.     I wish I were the little bell      That tinkles for the Host,     When God comes down each day to dwell      With hearts He loves the most.     I wish I were the chalice fair,      That holds the Blood of Love,     When every flash lights holy prayer      Upon its way above.     I wish I were the little flower      So near the Host's sweet face,     Or like the light that half an hour      Burns on the shrine of grace.     I wish I were the altar where,      As on His mother's breast,     Christ nestles, like a child, fore'er      In Eucharistic rest.     But, oh! my God, I wish the most      That my poor heart may be     A home all holy for each Host      That comes in love to me.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Before an Altar..."

Abram Joseph Ryan's contribution to classic is further solidified by the brilliance found in "A Child's Wish"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

Related lines

"When I am dead, and all will soon forget      My words, and face, and ways --     I, somehow, think I'll walk beside thee yet      Adown thy af"

"He walked alone beside the lonely sea,     The slanting sunbeams fell upon his face,     His shadow fluttered on the pure white sands     Like"

"At the golden gates of the visions      I knelt me adown one day;     But sudden my prayer was a silence,      For I heard from the "Far away""

"Back to where the roses rest     Round a shrine of holy name,     (Yes -- they knew me when I came)     More of peace and less of fame      S"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Continue Reading

"When I am dead, and all will soon forget      My w..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.