Category: Thomas Gent

The Long, Perfect Loveliness

St.-Francis-and-the-Sow
St. Francis and the Sow

Prayer

Whatever happens.  Whatever
what is is is what
I want.  Only that.  But that.

Galway Kinnell

Fair Flower

Thomas Gent (1693 – 1778)

Fair flower! that fall’n beneath the angry blast,
Which marks with wither’d sweets its fearful way,
I grieve to see thee on the low earth cast,
While beauty’s trembling tints fade fast away.
But who is she, that from the mountain’s head
Comes gaily on, cheering the child of earth;
The walks of woe bloom bright beneath her tread,
And nature smiles with renovated mirth?
‘Tis Health! she comes, and hark! the vallies ring.
And hark! the echoing hills repeat the sound;
She sheds the new-blown blossoms of the spring,
And all their fragrance floats her footsteps round.
And hark! she whispers in the zephyr’s voice,
Lift up thy head, fair flower! rejoice! rejoice!

The zombie apocalypse has begun.  At least it feels that way a bit with corona virus in the news 24/7.   All my plans for the next 30 days seem to have been reformed, rewritten or scrapped all together as the week progressed.  The picture changes by the day in terms of what does and doesn’t make sense in terms of travel, over reacting, under reacting – who knows? I am feeling second guessed (mostly by myself) for any decision I make regarding human contact.  The politically correct thing to do right now is stay home for the next 14 days, avoid all human contact, but that seems a little extreme given that we likely have barely even kicked this pandemic off yet.  We maybe only experiencing the pre-game ceremonies of the covid-19 games and just at the start of the first quarter.  It’s going to be a long, long game.  Hope you stocked up on toilet paper, nacho chips and salsa.

I enjoyed Stephen Fry’s tweet on Friday. Go team Fry!  Even if we aren’t related, Stephen and I, I am always glad to see my namesakes being compassionate and intelligent. I agree, kindness and civility need to rule the day right now.  It’s okay to be a rattled or even activated by all this crazy weirdness of COVID – 19. Reach out to friends and family and stay connected even if that means a little less face to face and a little more technology.  Ask for reassurance.  It is going to be okay, even though sadly, for some it probably won’t.  That was true before COVID – 19 and will be true after it. However,  faith in the benevolence of the universe is a better place to start this next global recession than grabby pessimism.

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St. Francis and the Sow

by Galway Kinnell (1927 – 2014)

The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don’t flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.