I will be a year older, and wiser, though I daresay not prettier, tomorrow.
All in a day.
How do birthdays manage it?
Annually, too!
At any rate, in keeping with predictable things, here is Chesterton. 'Tisn't the whole poem
- which I highly recommend -
-and which isn't that long -
- but these are my favourite lines.
(And furthermore, because tomorrow is my birthday, I am going to stay up and read
The Man Who Was Thursday.
Until it is late.
Very late, very possibly.
In spite of all the studying I must do tomorrow.)
These stanzas put me in mind of several dear friends (the whole poem of many others), but Jenny especially.
Good night.
O go you onward; where you are
Shall honour and laughter be,
Past purpled forest and pearled foam,
God’s winged pavilion free to roam,
Your face, that is a wandering home,
A flying home for me.
Ride through the silent earthquake lands,
Wide as a waste is wide,
Across these days like deserts, when
Pride and a little scratching pen
Have dried and split the hearts of men,
Heart of the heroes, ride.
Shall honour and laughter be,
Past purpled forest and pearled foam,
God’s winged pavilion free to roam,
Your face, that is a wandering home,
A flying home for me.
Ride through the silent earthquake lands,
Wide as a waste is wide,
Across these days like deserts, when
Pride and a little scratching pen
Have dried and split the hearts of men,
Heart of the heroes, ride.
-from the Dedication of 'The Ballad of the White Horse'
Oh. Oh dear. It's 5:48 in the morning and already I'm stabbed and shaken and torn in two. Thank you, Anna. This is a good way to start off your birthday. I must get my hands on the rest of this. These two stanzas are the stuff that great songs are made of. I wish I could hear Bjorn singing these...
Happy birthday, Anna. I hope it brings wonderful things, and I pray God blesses you this year.
I ADORE this poem (really, I adore anything Chesterton, but especially the Ballad of the White Horse) and the lines you picked were stunning and inspiring.
As the elves say, noro go hul, bado go Eru - run with the wind, go with God!
~ Mirriam
Happy Happy Birthday! I love these bits. I am entirely ashamed to say that I have hardly read any Chesterton at all...what do you recommend?
P.S. I think you a *very* pretty. :)
I was so taken with the poetry that I'm remarking on it belatedly, but I sort of take it for a given. Of course you're lovely, Anna. Pfft. Everyone knows that. Ask anybody you like.
I'm just getting into Chesterton myself, Rachel. Obviously, he was Roman Catholic and I am not, so on some fundamental levels we differ wildly, but he could See Things, if you know what I mean, and he could Write Them so that You could See. I read The Man Who Was Thursday first of his books, and boy did that blow me away... then I read Manalive, which I also enjoyed (and also boggled me); I recently finished his collection of essays called Tremendous Trifles which I definitely recommend to you (and which Anna sent me for my birthday). Now I am more than halfway through his book The Everlasting Man and pretty well taken with that in general. I hope to get a copy of this poem "The Ballad of the White Horse," and while the severe Catholic themes will not suit me, his poetry is Top Notch. I look forward to wrangling it into my own possession.