Some Poems

Here are two poems by G.K. Chesterton that I found in the library. The first is fairly striking for the current "holiday" trend and shows how there's "nothing new under the sun"; the other one is just really neat.

1)
A Christmas Carol
(The Chief Constable has issued a statement declaring that carol singing in the streets by children is illegal, and morally and physically injurious. He appeals to the public to discourage the practice.---Daily Paper)

God rest you merry gentleman,
Let nothing you dismay;
The Herald Angels cannot sing,
The cops arrest them on the wing,
And warn them of the docketing
Of anything they say.

God rest you merry gentlemen,
May nothing you dismay:
On your reposeful cities lie
Deep silence, broken only by
The motor horn's melodious cry,
The hooter's happy bray.

So, when the song of children ceased
And Herod was obeyed,
In his high hall Corinthian
With purple and with peacock fan,
Rested that merry gentleman;
And nothing him dismayed.


2)
The Convert

After one moment when I bowed my head
And the whole world turned over and came upright,
And I came out where the old road shone white,
I walked the ways and heard what all men said,
Forests of tongues, like autumn leaves unshed,
Being not unlovable but strange and light;
Old riddles and new creeds, nor in despite
But softly, as men smile about the dead.

The sages have a hundred maps to give
That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,
They rattle reason out through many a sieve
That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:
And all these things are less than dust to me
Because my name is Lazarus and I live.


For these poems and more, please purchase a copy of "The Ballad of St. Barbara" or some other poem collection.

EPIC

Here's what i had to endure this semester. The reading list for my Epic class: (Wahoo! The final's over!)



<-- The Iliad. How many ways can you say, "And so he killed him, a mist came over his eyes, and his father wept"?





Odysseus's birth and making a name for himself with Polyphemus:


^Here's Aeneas fleeing Troy with his father on his shoulder and his son at his heels. Aren't father/son relationships beautiful?

---

The Inferno:



Here's a nice one of Una and the Lion in the Faerie Queene, although i'd have to double check to see if it's entirely accurate (should she be wearing her veil at this time?):

^FQ was the most fun i had all semester. Sure it's horribly anti-catholic, but it's really great anyway.


Ok, so this wasn't painted with Paradise Lost in mind, but i wasn't about to go Googling for "Adam and Eve," lest i be shocked and horrified:



Oh yeah, and there was a bit of him to read at the end. Preeety weird.

---Hi. Call me Jimmy. He felt the urge to finish this post. Must finish the post. nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita. All the time. tap tap tap Telling me to finish up.
Salut! demeure chaste et pure. When i'm finished.

So anyway. I'm done.

Winter

I don't know if this bothers anyone else, but i think it's terrifying to be hurdling through space..and find that i am on a part of the earth that's tilting away from the sun. I mean, what would happen if it tilted just a bit farther? What would happen if the temperatures dropped from 13 to -13? That's not supposed to happen on the mid atlantic east coast. I don't think we take into account the cosmic proportion and danger of winter. Car breaking down, HA! How would you like your own body to shut down when the oceans freeze over and nothing works because everything is FROZEN! I mean, we could all be snatched up in our prime! I'm too young to die! Where's the justice?!


Why do i feel a sudden urge to go read Calvin and Hobbes...


PS. Stick around for mid July, here in nation's capital. Take a wild guess what i'll be thinking.


Please note that this post may not express the views of the blogger.

I imagine His "night before the test" was much worse than mine.

Finals time is a time...

This is the time of year to think about what's REALLY important.

Hoops and Yoyo

Hoops and Yoyo rock my world:

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article%7c10001%7c10051%7c/HallmarkSite/hoops&yoyohome/HOOPS_YOYO_HOMEPAGE


http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&tabOn=&categoryId=-102034&CatIDsList=-2;-102001;11446;-102034

Expectation, Reality, Time, and Money

Well, I was walking through the library today, and i saw a book title in one of the aisles, "Medieval French Bridges." A few years back, before coming to this school, i would have looked at the title and said, "That is an architecture book about Medieval French bridges." Now, however, thanks to 1-1/2 years of University education and the livening of my intellect, after briefly thinking, "Ah, architecture book...," I realized how foolish it was to think this, and concluded that it could be nothing other than a book on etymological "bridges" in/to/with Medieval French. How silly it had been of me.

Do you ever wonder whether all of the time you spend at school and in the library is coming to any good? In the Grand Scheme of things, it isn't too important, i suppose, but as it turned out, the book indeed was about Medieval French bridges. And so i chuckled to myself. Nope, the truth is that my being here is just an expensive way of getting a few painful kicks, and i was much better off without this "livened intellect."

A complete and aesthetically pleasing end to this story -- and one suggesting that I, the writer, am filled with a desire for an extensive and impressive erudition -- would sound something like, "In the end, it didn't matter what the title referred to, because i would have checked it out anyway (of course, either of the topics would interest me very much)," but i'm afraid that although i am sure it is a fascinating book about Medieval French bridges (or had it alternatively been about Medieval French bridges), I have better things to do with my time for the next couple of decades. And had i checked it out, it probably would have just sat in the trunk of my car and ended up costing me a dollar fine because i forgot about it -- like most of the things i check out (but not all).

I found this in the Library today:

I thought this was neat. From what i can tell, it's a short history of the beginnings of the Carthusian Order. One day, I'll go through and explain each panel, but today isn't that day.

It should be noted...

I began this blog at a time when i did not have time to spend on such silly things. I was supposed to be coming up with a paper topic for one of my classes, but after having spent all semester working my bum off (literally -- the library chairs aren't very comfortable), i decided to relax for an evening and listen to opera (and now to make this blog). I felt justified to do this; I earned the right to be a bum for an evening.

May future readers not spend too much time reading what i have to say, and instead turn to more useful things (such as the Holy Scriptures and the Doctors of the Church), so that while no one can claim to have approached the Father in his Glory, they may develop the desire to love and serve Him while on earth, and one day to spend eternity in the loving crook of His arm.


The spirit behind this blog may include, but not be limited to:

A desire to approach God more and more humbly,

A desire to maintain a constantly joyful spirit in Christ in spite of what trials may come (is this compatible with a blog?),

The love for ascetic monasticism,

A desire for an increase in the willing practice of penances and chastening austerities,

...For the salvation of souls, including our own (it is a terrifying proposition that anyone should burn in hell, if you really think about it),

A detestation of the tyrannical notion that happiness on earth only comes from things that "feel good"...,

Conservative and orthodox tendencies,

A mixture of amusement with, and appreciation for, Nicodemous of the Holy Mountain,

A desire for more intrinsic masculinity in male society in general,

The detestation of determinism in psychology,

The amateur interest in opera and lieder,

An unexplained fascination with Elmo and Muppets,

A tendency to distrust my eyes whenever André Rieu is on PBS, accompanied with an impulsive twitch of the right finger on the "channel up" button and the gagging of the throat,

The bachelor-ish tendency towards messiness (in room and thought), but without the rough language (unless you consider occasional grammatical struggles "rough language"),

The general notion that: television, computers, and cell phones are basically evil and in need of full redemption,

The tendency to spell "ax," "axe," and "gray," "grey"-- because it's just better that way,

The hope that the Red Sox will win the World Series every once in a while (not every year of course -- that would be too Yankee-like),

And, the desire particularly to emphasize that Christ is the Head of His Body (and only after this to talk about His community).