ELLEN HINSEY ON THE HOURS IN THE NIGHT GARDEN I You have been born for this. The path laid out, Your final arrival anticipated like the dry scent Of wild lavender in Lenten light along the hill; But the glorious air, all unexpected newness -- II You have been born for this - but unprepared, The traffic of your cells carries but one desire -- To resist -- this and all that is inevitable; to resist That which so quickly undoes what, at the outset, Was only so fragilely...
words from Nick Cave 'when you say that we are living in a ‘time of cynicism and cruelty’, I am not sure I agree with you. I think we are living through a frightening and deeply uncertain time, and though there are dementing and cynical voices out there, which are being emboldened and amplified by social media — that loony engine of outrage — they do not represent the voices of the many, or the good. My experience of actual people in this time is overwhelmingly positive — there is a great deal of love and mutual regard and community. I think most of us understand that in order to rise above this particular moment we must pull together, and act with civility,...
Consider the Lilies of the Field Flowers preach to us if we will hear:—The rose saith in the dewy morn:I am most fair;Yet all my loveliness is born Upon a thorn. The poppy saith amid the corn:Let but my scarlet head appearAnd I am held in scorn;Yet juice of subtle virtue liesWithin my cup of curious dyes.The lilies say: Behold how wePreach without words of purity.The violets whisper from the shadeWhich their own leaves have made:Men scent our fragrance on the air,Yet take no heedOf humble lessons we would read.But not alone the fairest flowers:The merest grassAlong the roadside where we pass,Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,Tell of His love who sends the dew,The rain and sunshine too,To nourish...