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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Edna St. Vincent Millay – 23 September 2008
By Mary T. Hoffman

One of the foremost poets of the early 1900’s, Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Rockland, Maine. When she was only nineteen, she wrote “Renascence” which some consider her best work. She was graduated from Vassar College in 1917. In 1922 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the best book of verse of the year. She wrote the words and Deems Taylor composed the music for The King’s Henchman, one of the few American operas ever written. In 1927 it was produced in New York City by the Metropolitan Opera Company. Her husband Eugen Boissevain managed her literary career until his death in 1949.

For today I’ve chosen this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay because it speaks so eloquently and emotionally of an autumn day. I especially like the lines “Lord, I do fear / Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year.”

GOD’S WORLD
Edna St. Vincent Millay
(1892–1950)

O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, – Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me, – let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
 
For a collection of poems and stories by many authors, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/poetrydir.html

Go on to: Letter to USDA about Dog and Rabbit Abuse at Loyola Labs – 24 September 2008
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