Posts tagged “Poetry

The Transfiguration of Jesus and the morning the Church expects for all creation

Posted on February 12th, 2011

I came across a reference to this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins while reading Hauerwas’s volume on Matthew. Beautiful in light of tomorrow’s feast: THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck* his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod. And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went…

Betjeman’s Gem

Posted on December 23rd, 2010

“Christmas,” by John Betjeman. Lovely, astounding, beautiful. The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again And lamp-oil light across the night Has caught the streaks of winter rain. In many a stained-glass window sheen From Crimson Lake to Hooker’s Green. The holly in the windy hedge And round the Manor House the yew Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge, The altar, font and arch and pew, So that villagers can say ‘The Church looks nice’ on Christmas Day. Provincial public houses blaze And Corporation tramcars clang, On lighted tenements I gaze Where paper decorations hang, And bunting in the red Town Hall Says ‘Merry Christmas to you all’ And London shops on Christmas Eve Are strung with silver…