Today's poem
The sonnet sings a sort of meditation in the Christian world with the Genesis creation narrative. The phrase "something understood" in the last line expresses the essentials, e.g., the moment of enlightenment. My understanding is never complete, but my uncertainties make me go on trying to understand. For me, the second line "God's breath in man returning to his birth" is most impressive. If the breath is Buddha's, how can the world be represented? Breathing is crucial beyond religions (yoga and the like). Awakening in the poem might be seen in various Christian verses.
Prayer (I) by George Herbert
Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
(from the website of George Herbert and Bemerton)
The sonnet sings a sort of meditation in the Christian world with the Genesis creation narrative. The phrase "something understood" in the last line expresses the essentials, e.g., the moment of enlightenment. My understanding is never complete, but my uncertainties make me go on trying to understand. For me, the second line "God's breath in man returning to his birth" is most impressive. If the breath is Buddha's, how can the world be represented? Breathing is crucial beyond religions (yoga and the like). Awakening in the poem might be seen in various Christian verses.
Prayer (I) by George Herbert
Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
(from the website of George Herbert and Bemerton)