JIve Monkey Gold from 2005: C.S. Lewis poem
"All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.
Peace, reassurance,pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love -- a scholar's parrot may talk Greek --
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin."
Was Lewis being too hard on himself? I don't think so. And if we're honest, do we not all have to say that this poem describes the condition of our hearts as well? I know it does mine. Frustrating, but true. Thank God for grace!
posted by Bobby @ 1:26 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
What a fantastic first line. For distilling thoughts into their purest form, regardless of genre, and without a scrap of the snobbery that could rightfully have accompanied his genius, the award goes to Lewis.
In my top three favorite authors for a reason, you see...
so true, so disturbing and deafening, but so true
alas but for grace we would be trapped forever in that skin
But you have to read the rest of the poem:
"Only that now you have taught me (but how late!) my lack,
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.
For this I bless you as the ruin falls: the pains you give me are greater than all other gains."
This may not be verbatim, as it's from memory, but it is close to it. This and one other are the only poems we have written by him to his wife regarding her death.
Post a Comment
<< Home