Nick Milas

Mrs. Finney

Honors English 11

September 15, 2016

Journey of the Magi- By T.S. Eliot

'A cold coming we had of it,

Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,

Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins,
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,

And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

In Praise of Solid People- C.S. Lewis

Thank God that there are solid folk

Who water flowers and roll the lawn,
And sit an sew and talk and smoke,
And snore all through the summer dawn.

Who pass untroubled nights and days

Full-fed and sleepily content,
Rejoicing in each other's praise,
Respectable and innocent.

Who feel the things that all men feel,

And think in well-worn grooves of thought,
Whose honest spirits never reel
Before man's mystery, overwrought.

Yet not unfaithful nor unkind,

with work-day virtues surely staid,
Theirs is the sane and humble mind,
And dull affections undismayed.

O happy people! I have seen

No verse yet written in your praise,
And, truth to tell, the time has been
I would have scorned your easy ways.

But now thro' weariness and strife

I learn your worthiness indeed,
The world is better for such life
As stout suburban people lead.

Too often have I sat alone

When the wet night falls heavily,
And fretting winds around me moan,
And homeless longing vexes me

For lore that I shall never know,

And visions none can hope to see,
Till brooding works upon me so
A childish fear steals over me.

I look around the empty room,

The clock still ticking in its place,
And all else silent as the tomb,
Till suddenly, I think, a face

Grows from the darkness just beside.

I turn, and lo! it fades away,
And soon another phantom tide
Of shifting dreams begins to play,

And dusky galleys past me sail,

Full freighted on a faerie sea;
I hear the silken merchants hail
Across the ringing waves to me

-Then suddenly, again, the room,

Familiar books about me piled,
And I alone amid the gloom,
By one more mocking dream beguiled.

And still no neared to the Light,

And still no further from myself,
Alone and lost in clinging night
-(The clock's still ticking on the shelf).

Then do I envy solid folk

Who sit of evenings by the fire,
After their work and doze and smoke,
And are not fretted by desire.

Love Deeply- By Henri Nouwen

Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain deep love can
cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you or die, your heart will be broken. but
that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes
your love ever more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root
and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death,
you are faced with a choice. you can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand
straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life
to new seeds.

The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love ,the more
you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and
receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. They
will become part of yourself and thus gradually build a community within you.

Those you have deeply loved become part of you. the longer you live, there will always
be more people to be loved by you and to become part of your inner community. The wider your
inner community becomes, the more easily you will recognize your own brothers and sisters in
the strangers around you. Those who are alive within you will recognize those who are alive
around you. The wider the community of your heart, the wider the community around you. Thus
the pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground
of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it
will bear.