(I used this poem as the basis for today's Catholic Match post. It seems especially fitting for this year, so I offer you the whole thing) I heard the bells on Christmas DayTheir old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeatOf peace on earth, good-will to men! And thought how, as the day had … Continue reading Christmas Bells
Poetry
Quotation of the Day: The Ballad of the White Horse
"But you and all the kind of ChristAre ignorant and brave,And you have wars you hardly winAnd souls you hardly save."I tell you naught for your comfort,Yea, naught for your desire,Save that the sky grows darker yetAnd the sea rises higher."Night will be thrice night over you,And Heaven an iron cope.Do you have joy without … Continue reading Quotation of the Day: The Ballad of the White Horse
The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad
Dull to myself, and almost dead to theseMy many fresh and fragrant mistresses:Lost to all music now; since every thingPuts on the semblance here of sorrowing.Sick is the land to' th' heart; and doth endureMore dangerous faintings by her desp'rate cure.But if that golden age would come again,And Charles here rule, as he before did … Continue reading The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad
Locksley Hall
I'm not writing on the election. What would be the point? There are enough people talking about it to satiate anyone's appetite for politics and predictions of victory by this side or the other. Right now, I just don't want to bother thinking about it. So today is a poetry day. Alfred Lord Tennyson Comrades, … Continue reading Locksley Hall
Norman and Saxon
(Posted this one before, but it seems timely. Everyone in a leadership position should be made to memorize this one) “MY son,” said the Norman Baron, “I am dying, and you will be heirTo all the broad acres in England that William gave me for my shareWhen we conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a … Continue reading Norman and Saxon
Lepanto
White founts falling in the courts of the sun,And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard,It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips,For the inmost sea of all the earth … Continue reading Lepanto
Patriotism
You know what makes me the most angry, looking back? The fact of being told so many times that I shouldn’t be. I should be sad. I should be aware of the complexities of the situation. I should have sympathy for those in other countries. But I shouldn’t be angry. I shouldn’t feel it personally. … Continue reading Patriotism
Gunga Din at ‘The Everyman’
A new 'Everyman' post went up yesterday, talking about Rudyard Kipling's Gunga Din and what it reveals about both his perspective and ours: Now, you cannot think sense about morality unless you get this idea of principles clear, and you cannot get it clear until you can identify what is and is not an equivalent case. The … Continue reading Gunga Din at ‘The Everyman’
“Norman and Saxon”
“MY son,” said the Norman Baron, “I am dying, and you will be heir To all the broad acres in England that William gave me for my share When we conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little handful it is. But before you go over to rule it I want you to understand … Continue reading “Norman and Saxon”
Ballade of Moderns
(Meant to have a post today, but ran into last-minute problems with my coding project, so instead here's a Chesterton poem:) On deserts red and deserts grey The temples into sand have slid; Go search that splendour of decay To find the final secret hid In mummies' painted coffin-lid In hieroglyphs of hunt and play. … Continue reading Ballade of Moderns
Serpent's Den 