Humankind: Sinful, Rebellious and Faithless
Strange fondness of the human heart, Enamoured of its harm! Strange world, that costs it so much smart, And still has power to charm. Whence has the world her magic power? Why deem we Death a foe? Recoil from weary life’s best hour, And covet longer woe? The cause...
I found Him not in world or sun, Or eagle’s wing, or insect’s eye; Nor through the questions men may try, The pretty cobwebs we have spun…. Love is and was my Lord and King, And in his presence I attend To hear the tidings of my friend, Which every hour his...
I fled him down the nights and down the days. I fled him down the arches of the years; I fled him down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and, in the midst of tears I hid from him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed slopes I sped; And shot precipitated, Adown...
No not to us, O Lord! The praise or glory be Of any deed or word; For in thy judgement lies To crown or bring to nought All knowledge or device That man has reached or wrought. And we confess our blame – How all too high we hold That noise which men call fame, That...
He makes the dust to rise from the earth with his swagger; He adds his loud voice to every word that I utter; He is my own little self, my Lord, he knows no shame; But I am ashamed to come to thy door in his company. Rabindranath Tagore...
All monsters of the deserts, all demons of darkness are here again. Once again people stand face to face with chaos: and what makes it so much more terrible is the fact that the majority do not comprehend what is at hand. For everywhere scientifically informed people...
See Scandal praying with her sharp knees up, And Virtue stood at Weeping Cross, And Courage to his leaking ship appointed, Slim Truth dismissed without a character, And gaga Falsehood highly recommended, The green thumb to the ledger knuckled down. Greed showing...
O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep, Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all Life death does...
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, as their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – Immortal horrors or...
We have grown brave we modern folk, eager to kiss the moon’s reluctant face, defying every harness, chain and yoke, kicking our rockets down the field of space. We flout established customs undismayed, leap time and space with buttons we have pressed, attempt to...
When she was half-a-dozen years younger, Louisa had been overheard to begin a conversation with her brother one day by saying, ’Tom, I wonder’ – upon which Mr Gradgrind, who was the person overhearing, stepped forth into the light and said, ‘Louisa, never...
Because we cannot be clever and honest and are inventors of things more intricate than the snowflake – Lord have mercy. Because we are full of pride in our humility, and because we believe in our disbelief – Lord have mercy. Because we will protect ourselves from...