Poem of the Day

Dante to Beatrice.

A beautiful Pentecost prayer

posted at Enbrethiliel's.

And just in time for the semi-centennial ...

A Telegraph article about former Smiths frontman Morrissey : does he write poetry or lyrics? The writer argues that song lyrics aren't really poetry.

Via, oddly enough, poetryfoundation.org.

Watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee

I have to work the word "geusioleptic" into conversation sometime!

Oh, wow. Some lucky kid just got "avoirdupois." Considering they're throwing out words like "psittacosis," "ophelimity," "herniorrhaphy," and "Reykjavik," I'd have sighed with relief over "avoirdupois"!

The Hail Mary

in twelve languages.

I was not familiar with the French version, and was startled, a bit, by the word "entrailles," so much like the English "entrails"!

A poetry question answered!

Lord, defend us from the peroration;
Silence all that politicians say.
Those who plough us in to make a nation
Have not know the vision we obey.

Wits that learn from mother-wit are keenest,
Nor is there nobility of style
Till the proud man kneel to help the meanest:
Those who justify themselves are vile.

Vernon Watkins (1906-67)

Text of the poem provided by reader Tielo, to whom, a thousand thank-yous!

The "wisdom" of Kris Allen

It's not about religion. We're not running for president.

Kris Allen, on whether "the Christian vote" caused him to win this year's American Idol competition

Yahoo headline

Ga. mother accused of leaving baby in car to play video games

Wow! When I was a baby, I couldn't play video games! That's some baby!

Quotation of note

Jesus came to raise the dead. The only qualification for the gift of the Gospel is to be dead. You don't have to be smart. You don't have to be good. You don't have to be wise. You don't have to be wonderful. You just have to be dead. That's it.

Robert Farrar Capon, via Archbishop Chaput, in Living the Catholic Faith (Charis Books/Servant Publications, 2001), p. 159

Met a fellow blogger today (sort of)

A ministerial blogger, no less! I was privileged to attend the beautiful Ascension Thursday Mass at St Paul's Church just outside Harvard Square, Cambridge, where the celebrant was Fr Mark Mossa, SJ, the author of Diary of a Rookie Priest and its previous incarnation ... AND I LET MYSELF BE DUPED. After Mass, I shook hands with him and said merely, "Hello, Father," but did not identify myself as dylan, the blogger of darkspeech, for fear of hearing something like, "Oh, so you're the unregenerate wretch responsible for that ungodly mess!" (Well, I'm fairly sure that that wouldn't happen. Maybe. But one never knows.)

So, Father, if you're reading, it was pleasant to meet you! (Or to have almost met you.) A pleasure, indeed, to have attended the beautiful liturgy on this holy day.

Let's play: Is it Thomas Hardy or an early Smiths lyric?

On a morning sick as the day of doom
      With the drizzling gray
      Of an English May,
There were few in the railway waiting-room.

Thomas Hardy, from "In a Waiting-Room"

More Archbishop Chaput

Hundreds of things are politically correct, but virtually nothing is sacred.

Chaput, op. cit., pp. 99-100

Two from Archbishop Chaput

One concern we should have today is that we've lost our awe for the church. We hear frequently about the contrast between the "institutional Church" and the "real Church." We see this again and again in the newspapers. We read about what the "institutional Church" has to say or teach, and then we have it refuted by someone who claims to represent the "real Church," a spiritual entity separate from the institution. Yet this is not what Catholics believe. We have only one Church. Any distinction between an "institutional" Church and the "real" Church is both artificial and dangerous, because it gives us a license to choose what we want to believe and throw away the rest. We set up a dishonest distinction between what the institutional Church teaches and what members of the "real" Church -- in other words, we -- prefer.

:: :: :: :: ::

Ask yourself this question: Why do we have a vocations crisis in the Church? Is it because of celibacy? I don't think so. When I was eighteen years old, my body wasn't any different from those of eighteen-year-old males today, and women were no less interesting, intelligent, and attractive in the 1960s than they are today. Yet somehow great numbers of young men were able to choose celibacy. Celibacy in the 2000s isn't the real obstacle to priestly vocations. Being faithful to celibacy has always involved a struggle. We have a crisis in priestly and religious vocations for the same reason we have a crisis in committed lay vocations: The sons and daughters of the Church lack confidence in the Church. No sensible person would become celibate for General Motors or Microsoft, and no sensible person should give himself as a celibate to the Church if the Church is merely an institution.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Living the Catholic Faith : Rediscovering the Basics (Charis, 2001), pp. 82-85

On charity

Hugh of Saint Victor observes that the devil is not afraid of us when we give alms to the poor, because he himself does not own anything. Neither does he fear us when we fast, because he does not take food. And even when we keep vigil at night he is not afraid, because he does not sleep. But if we are united in charity, of this the devil is terrified, and immensely so, because he realizes that we safeguard on earth what he disdained in heaven.

Fr Peter John Cameron, OP, via the May 2009 Magnificat

Quotation

Most of the young poets I read appear to have little sense of the sound words make, and I wonder whether they read their own poems aloud.

May Sarton, At Seventy : A Journal (Norton, 1984), p. 318

Lemonade! Huzzah!

I have just received the Lemonade Stand Award from Sharon of clairity currents! I am most grateful!

And accordingly, I nominate the following five for the Lemonade Stand Award, for bloggers "whose posting demonstrates great attitude and gratitude":

Sancta Sanctis

Video meliora, proboque; deteriora sequor

For Keats' Sake!

Enchiridion

Eve Tushnet

Oh, yes, the rules!

1) Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post.

2) Nominate at least 5 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude (half of the original 10)

3) Link to your nominees within your post.

4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5) Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

I feel so extraordinary, something's got a hold on me

An '80s flashback :

To Blossoms

by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
      Why do ye fall so fast?
      Your date is not so past,
But you may stay yet here awhile
      To blush and gently smile,
            And go at last.

What, were ye born to be
      An hour or half's delight,
      And so to bid good-night?
'Twas pity Nature brought ye forth
      Merely to show your worth,
            And lose you quite.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
      May read how soon things have
      Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride
      Like you, awhile, they glide
            Into the grave.


_______________


(courtesy of blog-reader Maria H.; many thanks!)

Prayer

by Saint Anselm of Canterbury (+1109)

God, whose goodness is not exhausted, whose mercy is not emptied out, whose knowledge does not fail, whose power can effect what you will; whence shall I ever be able to get back life, who have thus been driven desperate by my sins? For if you are angry against sinners, at least, kind Lord, you are accustomed to give counsel to those who plead with you. Teach me, O Lord, whence I ought to hope, so that I can pray. For I long to pray to you; but I neither know how because of my ignorance, nor am I able to because of my hardness. And I am forbidden to do it by despair because of my sins. I seek for something that will excuse me, and there is nothing that does not accuse me. I seek for someone who will pray for me, and I find whatever exists is against me. I seek for someone to have mercy upon a wretch, and all that has being opposes the wretch.

Jesus, good Lord, why did you come down from heaven, what did you do in the world, to what end did you give yourself over to death, unless it was that you might save sinners? Saint Paul, what did you teach when you were passing through the world? God, and his apostles, and you most of all, invite us sinners to faith; you show us this as our only safe refuge. How then should I not hope, if I believe this, and ask in this faith? How can this hope be frustrated in me, if that faith does not fail me from which it was born?

Seven random quick snippets

(Inspired by the 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.)

7.

Didn't do much reading yesterday, a little C S Lewis, and some Eric Milner-White : two of the RCAs (Really Cool Anglicans).

6.

They kicked the last female performer off American Idol Wednesday night. I'm not as committed to it this year, but I guess I'm hoping that Adam wins, faute de mieux. I'm still smarting over Syesha's third-place finish last year.

5.

It was in town for about one week, and I didn't get to see it. The Edge of Love, a film about Dylan Thomas, starring Welsh actor Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters). If critics are reliable, I'm not missing a great picture. Still, I would like to see it.

4.

The cost of a postage stamp goes up Monday. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get some Forever Stamps before then.

3.

Song going through my head --

E volavo volavo felice più in alto del sole ed ancora più su,
mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggiù,
una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me ...

Volare ... oh, oh! ...
cantare ... oh, oh, oh, oh!

2.

May Sarton in her journal At Seventy wonders if she will ever see her late mother again. She writes that she doesn't believe in an afterlife. "But one wonders." Six pages later, the Unitarian writer refers to something happening "by chance, or with the guardian angel's help." Sarton was also in the habit of commemorating All Souls' Day! Interesting.

1.

OK, it's five o'clock, and I'm awake. What do I do now?

Litany of an Expiant

by Eric Milner-White (1884-1963)

Jesu, Creator,
      Recreate and renew me.

Jesu, Saviour,
      Save me from sin,
      Save me from self.

Jesu, High Priest,
      Pity me,
      Plead for me,
      Pardon and purify me.

Jesu, Prophet,
      Waken and warn me.

Jesu, King,
      Rule me.

Jesu, the Way,
Jesu, my friend,
      Go with me always.

Jesu, the Truth,
      Teach me, counsel me,
      Make me all true.

Jesu, true Light,
      Scatter my darkness.

Jesu, true Bread,
      Strengthen my weakness.

Jesu, good Shepherd,
      Lead me and feed me.

Jesu, the Life,
      Live in me always,
            that I may adore thee,
            my Lord and my God,
                  evermore. Amen.

Eric Milner-White, My God My Glory : Aspirations, Acts, and Prayers on the desire for God (Triangle/SPCK, 1994), p. 40

Marianne Moore for the month of May

In a reading of my verse for a women's club, I included these lines from "Tell me, tell me":

I vow, rescued tailor
        of Gloucester, I am going
    to flee: by engineering strategy --
    the viper's traffic-knot -- flee
to metaphysical newmown hay,
honeysuckle or woods fragrance. ...

After the program, a strikingly well-dressed member of the audience, with equally positive manner, inquired, "What is metaphysical newmown hay?"

I said, "Oh, something like a sudden whiff of fragrance in contrast with the doggedly continuous opposition to spontaneous conversation that had gone before." "Then why don't you say so?" the impressive lady rejoined.

from "A Burning Desire to Be Explicit," in The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore (Penguin, 1987), pp. 606-7.

Self-Examination

by Eric Milner-White (1884-1963)

Help me, O Holy Spirit, to search and question myself,
        and honestly to answer:
Am I single-minded in seeking my God?
        in serving him? even in praying to him?
Do I put GOD first in deed? in intention?
        or even in desire? in hope?
What reserves do I always maintain against him?
        what other loves cling to?
Is not self-regard my prevailing motive,
        secret, silent, undetectable, insatiable?
Where do I serve self in daily conduct,
        when I should be serving others?
        when I should be serving GOD?
Do I obey self even in the most inward spiritual things?
        in the exercise of holy ministries?
                even in the holiest place?

Search me thyself, O GOD,
        seek the grounds of my heart;
Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me,
        any subservience to mine ease,
        any hungering and playing for mine own honour.
Help, O help me slay my self-regard,
        the foe that is in myself and of myself,
            and to want to slay it.
O Saviour of the world,
    who by thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us,
save me and help me,
            I humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

Eric Milner-White, My God My Glory : Aspirations, Acts, and Prayers on the desire for God (Triangle/SPCK, 1994), p. 31

Repentance

by Eric Milner-White (1884-1963)

LORD, when for joy I seek thy Presence,
        give me a godly sorrow for my sins;
        yea, and for my righteousness also.

O Lord that my sins may be covered,
        strengthen me to uncover them
                honestly, unsparingly,
                before thine infinite love.

Let my heart with all its secrets
        be thrown as open to thee
                as thy mercies to me.

May I never confess my faults
        with no purpose to leave them
        nor make half-repentances,
                lest I make none.

Rather let me lift up to thee
        all my prides and shames,
                the stubborn and the small,
                the recurrent and the continuous,
        that they may be buried low,
                and have no resurrection.

from My God My Glory : Aspirations, Acts, and Prayers on the desire for God (Triangle/SPCK, 1994) p. 30

Issue 2

The second issue of The Christendom Review, edited by Richard Barnett and William Luse, has appeared online.

It's not quite as strange as, let us say, Neil Sedaka doing "Straight Outta Compton"

... but it's close.

(Hat tip : Summa Minutiae.)