Be adored among men,
God, three-numberèd form;
Wring thy rebel, dogged in den,
Man’s malice, with wrecking and
storm.
Beyond saying sweet, past telling of
tongue,
Thou art lightning and love, I found it, a
winter and warm;
Father and fondler of heart thou hast
wrung:
Hast thy dark
descending and most art merciful then.
[Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Wreck of the Deutschland]
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece
of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by
the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's
death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for
thee.
[John Donne]
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make and end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from . . ..
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph. And any action
Is a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throat
Or to an illegible stone: and that is where we start.
We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them . . ..
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
And to make and end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from . . ..
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph. And any action
Is a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throat
Or to an illegible stone: and that is where we start.
We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them . . ..
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
[T. S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"]
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death . . ..
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[I Corinthians 15:24-26, 53-57]
 |
| Somewhere in southern Wales | June 2014 |
