September 2011
5 posts
“the christian way says, “creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists…[so,] if i find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that i was made for another world. if none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. if that is so, i must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. i must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which i shall not find till after death; i must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; i must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”
—cs lewis
“i must not die of pity; i must live;
grow strong, not sicken; eat, digest my food,
that it may build me, and in doing good
to blood and bone, broaden the sensitive
fastidious pale perception: we contrive
lean comfort for the starving, who intrude
upon them with our pots of pity; brewed
from stronger meat must be the broth we give.
blue, bright september day, with here and there
on the green hills a maple turning red,
and white clouds racing in the windy air!—
if i would help the weak, i must be fed
in wit and purpose, pour away despair
and rinse the cup, eat happiness like bread.” —edna st. vincent millay
grow strong, not sicken; eat, digest my food,
that it may build me, and in doing good
to blood and bone, broaden the sensitive
fastidious pale perception: we contrive
lean comfort for the starving, who intrude
upon them with our pots of pity; brewed
from stronger meat must be the broth we give.
blue, bright september day, with here and there
on the green hills a maple turning red,
and white clouds racing in the windy air!—
if i would help the weak, i must be fed
in wit and purpose, pour away despair
and rinse the cup, eat happiness like bread.” —edna st. vincent millay
