Saturday, August 16, 2014

"WONDER KEPT DAZZLING ME . . ."



For many years, I have been inspired by the life and writings of the late William Sloane Coffin, who was a minister, a civil rights and peace activist, a prolific writer, and an unapologetic liberal.  In reading one of his books — specifically, The Heart is a Little to the Left: Essays on Public Morality — I've come across a poem by Czeslaw Milosz which offers me both solace and hope as I attempt each day to process the onslaught of news about the wars and economic injustices that seem to be tearing the world apart.  Perhaps this poem will speak to others as well.  If we can continue to be dazzled by wonder, and "recall only wonder," it may be that we will have the collective energy and perspective to pull the world back from the precipice of self-destruction.

          Pure beauty, benediction: you are all I gathered
          From a life that was bitter and confused, 
          In which I learned about evil, my own and not my own.
          Wonder kept dazzling me, and I recall only wonder,
          The risings of the sun in boundless foliage,
          Flowers opening after the night, universe of grasses,
          A blue outline of the mountains and a shout of hosanna.
          How many times I thought: is this the truth of the Earth?
          How can laments and curses be turned into hymns?
          Why do I pretend to know so much?
          But the lips praised on their own, the feet on their own were
               running,
          The heart was beating strongly, and the tongue proclaimed
               adoration.


From Czeslaw Milosz, "A Mirrored Gallery," The Collected Poems: 1931-1987, trans. Renata Gorczymski (Ecco Press, 1988).


12 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing the beautiful image and accompanying poem, George. We certainly do need to take respite in beauty and wonder in the face of so much discord and hatred on the planet.

    Perhaps the deteriorating conditions in the world will serve as a badly needed "Wake Up!" call for humanity. That is my hope - naive though it may be.

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    1. Thanks, Bonnie. With the bloodshed throughout the Middle East, the Ebola epidemic, the racial tensions in Missouri, and the total paralysis of responsible government in my own country, there are many reasons for despair. All the more reason that we should be mindful of whatever beauty and wonder we can muster in our individual lives.

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  2. As Goethe says in your sidebar, even man can produce the beauty to help him overcome worldly cares for a while.

    But the lips praised on their own, the feet on their own were
    running,
    The heart was beating strongly, and the tongue proclaimed
    adoration.

    If only the miracles of nature and art could move enough of us to make an end to hatred in the world.

    Will it always be ‘Them and Us’ in spite of man’s infinite possibilities and achievements?

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    1. Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Friko. I don't know whether the miracles of nature and art alone can bring an end to the hatred in the world, but I believe in spiritual evolution, glacially slow as it is, just as I believe in biological evolution. If we cannot eliminate the false them/us dualism, I believe we will gradually reduce its prominence. I guess that makes me either an optimist or a hopeless romantic.

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  3. We need poems like this George in our trouble times. It is my monthly Poetry afternoon on Wednesday - I shall look up his poems and choose one to read.

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    1. Thanks, Pat, and I agree. How would ever get through the days without good poetry. Delighted to know that you're inspired to choose a Milosz poem for your Wednesday poetry reading.

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  4. In the end, do you think we remember mostly love and beauty and wonder? I hope it is so and the older I get, the more I think maybe that is true. What a vivid flower, George. There is nothing like it in my universe.

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    1. Thanks, Barb. Glad you liked the image. I, too, found this particular flower stunning. Discovered it in a neglected part of some botanical gardens near where I live. And, yes, I think that love, beauty, and wonder will be the things we remember most when all is said and done. I love the line, "Wonder kept dazzling me, and I recall only wonder . . ."

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  5. I intended to come back to this beautiful post and let it slip my mind. I'm glad I revisited it today along with your new post. They are both wonderful testaments to the beauty of this world. I need to plug into these wonderful writers who knew the human condition and how to rise above it.

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    1. Glad you came back with your lovely comment, Teresa. The human condition of which you speak is in pretty bad shape at the moments — wars, wars, and more threats of war — so we need all the help we can find to rise above it.

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  6. I must remember that as a human, I am capable of all that I hear of in the despicable acts of others ("evil, my own and not my own"). The despair I feel over the brokenness in our world is a tiny fraction of the despair many feel who carry out terrible acts. But mostly I despair for the victims. Of course.

    Milosz's poem gets at something involuntary that overcame bitterness. Is it simply dogged awareness of what lies beneath all this dry rubble that can cause such a poem to emerge, and such a life of praise to be lived?

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    1. No one with any sense of justice and decency can live in this world without a certain amount of despair. As Milosz reminds us, however, there has always been beauty and wonder in the world, and we must remember to see this part of life, live this part of life daily, be perennially dazzled by it. Thanks, Ruth. Great to hear from you.

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