--- In [email protected], maskedzebra <no_reply@...> wrote: snip > > > Was He Married?
=He cannot instruct us, he cannot empathize with us, he cannot have genuine compassion, because he does not KNOW, really know, what it is like to be completely human.? S. Smith personally never got married herself. In "The Hostage," for example, she clearly expresses her personal aversion to marriage: Of course I never dared form any acquaintance. Marriage? Out of the question. Well for instance It might be infectious, this malaise of mine (an excuse) Spread That? I'd rather be dead The general impression the reader gets here is a conflict of disparate voices, confused masks and inconsistent views. In this context, Barbera and McBrien confirm that " [Smith's]conscience and her temperament lead her to insist on "emptiness of an indifferent universe".On the other hand, "Stevie's attitude to the Christian religion, like that of Emily Dickinson, was that of an agnostic who could not entirely abandon belief in a God of Love"(Spalding) see Movie review: "The Mill & The Cross"From: turquoiseb http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/messages/294576?threaded=1&m\ =e&var=1&tidx=1 http://tinyurl.com/7lrj9xd She jumped. And what a jump that was! Quite twice as long And high As it need be, Now why Did this cat jump at all, so force herself? There was a path around the tank She could have walked ("Can It Be?") > > Was he married, did he try > To support as he grew less fond of them > Wife and family? > > No, > He never suffered such a blow. > > Did he feel pointless, feeble and distrait, > Unwanted by everyone and in the way? > > From his cradle he was purposeful, > His bent strong and his mind full. > > Did he love people very much > Yet find them die one day? > > He did not love in the human way. > > Did he ask how long it would go on, > Wonder if Death could be counted on for an end? > > He did not feel like this, > He had a future of bliss. > > Did he never feel strong > Pain for being wrong? > > He was not wrong, he was right, > He suffered from others', not his own, spite. > > But there is no suffering like having made a mistake > Because of being of an inferior make. > > He was not inferior, > He was superior. > > He knew then that power corrupts but some must govern? > > His thoughts were different. > > Did he lack friend? Worse, > Think it was for his fault, not theirs? > > He did not lack friends, > He had disciples he moulded to his ends. > > Did he feel over-handicapped sometimes, yet must draw even? > > How could he feel like this? He was the King of Heaven. > > . . . find a sudden brightness one day in everything > Because a mood had been conquered, or a sin? > > I tell you, he did not sin. > > Do only human beings suffer from the irritation > I have mentioned? learn too that being comical > does not ameliorate the desperation? > > Only human beings feel this. > It is because they are so mixed. > > A god is Man's doll, you ass, > He makes him up like this on purpose. > > He might have made him up worse. > > He often has, in the past. > > To choose a god of love, as he did and does, > Is a little move then? > > Yes, it is. > > A larger one will be when men > Love love and hate hate but do not deify them? > > It will be a larger one. > > Stevie Smith >
