"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.
For today I’ve chosen this poem that I found in a book of poetry published in 1926.
The son of a rector, Alfred Tennyson attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a medal for poetry. Enormously popular with his contemporaries, he was one of the great Victorian poets of England and succeeded Wordsworth as England’s Poet Laureate.
Thou canst not prove that thou art body alone,
Nor canst thou prove that thou art spirit alone,
Nor canst thou prove that thou art both in one,
Thou canst not prove thou art immortal, no,
Nor yet that thou art mortal – nay, my son,
Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee,
Am not thyself in converse with thyself,
For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven. Wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith!
She reels not in the storm of warring words,
She brightens at the clash of ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’
She sees the best that glimmers through the worst,
She feels the sun is hid but for a night,
She spies the summer through the winter bud,
She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls,
The hears the lark within the songless egg,
She finds the fountain where they wailed ‘Mirage!’
For a large collection of poems and stories, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/poetrydir.html
Go on to: The Life We Have Is Very Great – 7 December 2008
Return to: Is Milk Necessary for Building Strong Bones? – 5 December 2008
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