A poem by John O’Neill, Jr. ’75 as published in the 1975 Blackfriars yearbook:
Reflections of my younger days
Are piercing through a web of haze.
A web a string of years has spun
On those I’ve known and things I’ve done.
I’ve loved the times and people here,
And I regret the end is near.
Here they fed me life and laughter
To build me up for what comes after.
From here on in I understand
That no one leads me by the hand.
It’s time to do what I’ve been shown
And try to make it on my own.
There’s something calling; I can’t wait.
The future’s knocking on my fate.
I’m climbing, never asking why,
My spiral staircase to the sky.
Before I go along my way,
There’s something that I have to say.
I wouldn’t change it if and when
I had it all to do again.
Reflections of my future days
Are glowing in a cloud of haze,
Lighting the stage of those I’ve met,
With my hour to strut and fret,
And sing a past I won’t forget,
And sing a past I won’t forget.