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THE CULTURAL CORNER FOR LENT 2022
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Two of my favorite British poets (OK, I have a number of others, too) are Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and George Herbert (1593-1633). Both were filled with the spirituality of Christian life and belief. Especially for this weekend of Mardi Gras and its prelude to Lent, I offer a poem from each of them to help us enter into Ash Wednesday and the following days of penance and resolve to reform.
Is this a Fast, to keep/The Larder leane?/And cleane/From fat of Veales, and Sheep?
Is it to quit the dish/Of Flesh, yet still/To fill/The platter high with Fish?
Is it to fast an houre,/Or rag’d to go,/Or show/A down-cast look, and sorwe?
No: ‘tis a Fast, to dole/Thy sheaf of wheat,/And meat,/Unto the hungry Soule.
It is to fast from strife,/From old debate,/And hate,/To circumcise thy life.
To shew a heart grief-rent;/To sterve thy sin,/Not Bin;/And that’s to keep thy Lent.
So Herrick challenges us, in forms more poetic than prosaic (if you want the prose antecedent, read Isaiah 58:1-12). But even in its 17th century language, I hope you can catch the feel of the poem.
If Herrick challenges, George Herbert consoles:
Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,/Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack/From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,/If I lacked anthing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:/Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,/I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,/Who made the eyes but I?
Truth, Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame/Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?/My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:/So I did sit and eat.
(Footnotes: this poem was the basis for the pivotal scene in CS Lewis’ The Last Battle, in the dialogue between Aslan and Emeth [a “pagan” whose name is the Hebrew word for truth/fidelity]. It was also set brilliantly to music by Ralph Vaughn Williams as part of his “Five Mystical Songs.”)
There is hope for us all Herbert reminds us, even as we face the challenge of Herrick (and Isaish) in this Lent.