Verseday Thursday: Chesterton and back-posts

This blog needs more structure. I'll sometimes begin to write a post, work on it for a couple days, and then decide in the end that I shouldn't post it, which ends up leaving this place postless and dead, despite my good intentions. So, I have decided to migrate a weekly Facebook post that I make to this, my beloved blogspot. The post is called "Verseday Thursday," because it's as close as I could get to a rhyme. At any rate, I do hope you'll find the poems worth your while.

To kick off this very first blogspot edition of Verseday Thursday, I'm presenting you with today's post in addition to back-posts for a very special New Years Eve Verseday Thursday.

Cheers.

VERSEDAY THURSDAY (31 Dec. 2009): Gilbert Keith Chesterton

I nearly forgot today was a Thursday. But I remembered, and in honor of the new year, I've decided to share one of my favorite Chesterton poems.

A PRAYER IN THE DARKNESS - by G. K. Chesterton

This much, O heaven--if I should brood or rave
Pity me not, but let the world be fed.
Yea, in my madness if I strike me dead
Heed you the grass that grows upon my grave.

If I dare snarl between this sun and sod,
Whimper and clamour, give me grace to own
In sun and rain and fruit in season shown,
The shining silence of the scorn of God.

Thank God the stars are set beyond my power;
If I must travail in a night of wrath,
Thank God my tears will never vex a moth
Nor any curse of mine cut down a flower.

Men say the sun was darkened, yet I had
Thoughts it beat brightly, even on Calvary:
And He that hung upon the torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.


VERSEDAY THURSDAY (18 Dec. 2009): William Butler Yeats/Day-late edition [posted it on a Friday. ]

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven - W.B. Yeats

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

(Very possibly my favorite Yeats poem)

VERSEDAY THURSDAY (10 Dec. 2009): Thomas Nashe

ADIEU, FAREWELL EARTH'S BLISS (A.D. 1592) –by Thomas Nashe

Adieu, farewell earth's bliss,
This world uncertain is;
Fond are life's lustful joys,
Death proves them all but toys,
None from his darts can fly:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade;
All things to end are made;
The plague full swift goes by:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air,
Queens have died young and fair,
Dust hath clos'd Helen's eye:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Strength stoops unto the grave,
Worms feed on Hector brave,
Swords may not fight with fate,
Earth still holds ope her gate;
Come, come, the bells do cry.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Wit with his wantonness
Tasteth death's bitterness:
Hell's executioner
Hath no ears for to hear
What vain art can reply:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Haste, therefore, each degree
To welcome destiny:
Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player's stage:
Mount we unto the sky.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Christmas Eve Christmas Links

Here are some worthy Xmas links:

Origin of 'Xmas'

The House of Christmas - G. K. Chesterton (poem)

What Christmas Meant to C.S. Lewis (there are some worthwhile comments below the post, too)

And finally, let us dwell upon the fact, as Lewis succinctly put it, that

"The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God."

Not only is that the reason we celebrate Christmas, but it is also what enables us to celebrate anything at all.

Merry Xmas!

Poetry: Melancholy and Moral Geometry

A couple recent poems. They aren't fantastic, but I suppose they aren't vomit-worthy either. Neither of these is actually titled, but I felt like I needed to title them to post them. I'm sure I'll read them again in a few months and either burn or revise them (...for the umpteenth time. Alas). But until their demise or further verbal (plastic) surgery...

Silent Melancholy Sits

Silent melancholy sits
Crouched beside the path
Well-worn and soft,
Like tired earthen backs,
With the stately steps
Of distilled centuries.
Green, it hides,
And gray, it hangs.
It waits for me to pass
With tender silent tread
And turns blithe inspiration
Heavy, entering like a mist
And choking like a sigh.


Life Wanders

More poetry here.

We are Villains in Need of Heroes

In Moby-Dick, Melville writes,

Men may seem detestable as joint stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes.

This remarkable line captures the essence of the epic hero. It is this sentiment of mankind’s glory that makes myths and epic poems. Literature, in all its historic vastness has painted images of the ideal man: men like Hector, Odysseus, Aeneas, King Arthur, and Beowulf. The great Greek and Humanist sculptors of the Renaissance attempted to carve the body of this ideal man. In pursuit of this ideal, we are often willing to excuse the faults of a great man if his greatness outweighs his faults: giants, for instance, like King David, Martin Luther King Jr., and Churchill.

However artificially, we create and frame certain men as approaching the ideal – as heroes – out of a need to observe such men. If history has taught us anything, it is that mankind naturally tends toward evil; it is only through careful vigilance and the constant threat of losing our freedoms that we can maintain them. Perhaps in setting such men on pedestals and disregarding their failures, we are not such much admiring them as we are reassuring ourselves of humanity. If giants can arise out of society, perhaps there is hope for us: perhaps there is hope for humanity. Such heroes help us preserve the idea that man can be good, despite all the evil, suffering, and failure in the world.

The scandal to which we are daily exposed has perhaps destroyed our ability to believe in such heroes. The men and women who are supposed to be extraordinary, often seem to prove themselves so only by the exceptional number of their moral failures. We are reminded of Lord Acton’s famous dictum: all power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Adultery, illicit affairs, financial dishonesty, and various other corruptions seem as common among politicians and celebrities as runny noses in a nursery.

On the flip side of our desire to believe that man can be great, is both the realization that a greater capacity for goodness carries an equally great capacity for evil and a secret desire to see great men fall. The danger of greatness draws us to it; he who has the greatest capacity to save life has the greatest capacity to destroy it, and the balance can easily swing in either direction. Every good and powerful man is like a man dangling from the edge of a cliff, and breathless, we watch.

When great men fall, we are secretly pleased and fascinated, even though it only inspires cynicism. When great men fall, our own failures become a little more excusable. If we can excuse great men, perhaps we can excuse ourselves. If even great men cannot escape moral failures, how are we – the ordinary – be expected to escape? If it’s inevitable, perhaps we aren’t to blame.

No one is perfect, and so every time we set up a hero, we must ignore and cover his blemishes. This is not deceit, it is elevation of the good to the point where it fills our vision and we are unable to see anything else. Heroes are men as they should be, not men as they are. No matter how good we become, they are bigger and better still, and we are to continually reach after them.

It serves us better to create heroes than to destroy them.

Atheist Poster Children Actually Christians

Ha! O, irony. Read the story here.

Discrimination is the New Non-Discrimination. Confused? You're Fired.

Peter Vidala was fired for telling his coworker her homosexual marriage was wrong. He spoke up because he's a Christian, saying, "I see, like all real Christians, homosexuals as people who, like me, are sinners and need to be told the truth in a loving way."

He clearly identifies himself with his Christianity--it's who he is.

As you might recall, I posted this quote a while ago:

"When someone is attacked for being who they are, and for being proud of who they are, there is no other explanation for that attack than hatred and bigotry," said New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay speaker of the city council.

He was clearly fired for being who he is, and being unashamed (proud?) of who he is. Thus, the only reasonable explanation is that he's a victim of hatred and bigotry. Hey, not my words. I'm just applying things equally.

"Yeah, but he didn't have to say anything to his coworker. He should have just kept his mouth shut. Christians should keep their religion private."

--Oh really? Well what if I said this?

Homosexuals shouldn't flaunt their sexuality. They should keep their mouths shut. They should keep their homosexuality secret.

Blatant double standards, anyone? They're giving out free extra-portions! Get your pink slips while they're hot!

No Shave November/Movember/Hobo Holidays

Alas, I realized we were already in November late last night. I've been planning on doing No Shave November for months, but I've been so busy that I lost track of time and WHAM, I forgot to shave on Saturday. Thus, I'm going into No Shave November with an untrimmed 'stache and goatee and scruff all over my neck.

I can't grow a full beard for the life of me. Get ready, here comes the beard joke:

My beard screams "Geronimo!" ...'cause it's a patchy beard! (Get it, Apache beard? Ha. Ha. Ha...)



Here's a couple links for you to check out.
In Defense of Beards (Previous post on beards)
Movember (from the Art of Manliness website)
Manliest Mustaches of All Time (from the Art of Manliness website)
Growing a Manly Beard (from the Art of Manliness website)
Beards.org (what it says, yo.)

Cheers,