Finding Bliss in the Better

Poetry’s been on my mind quite a bit lately.

First, there are my poem-promoting/poem-lovin’ friends. Yes, indeed, a lot of my friends are enjoying poetry, whether reading, writing, sharing, publishing, or even tweeting it (check out TweetSpeak Poetry on Twitter tonight, November 23, 9:30-10:30 p.m. ET).

Also, I went to that Wendell Berry reading, and though he read from unpublished fiction (or is it autobiographical??), he did end by reading a poem of his that I liked very much.

And then of course, as I mentioned, I met Maurice Manning.

Well, when I saw three of my poetry anthologies sitting on the coffee table in the living room (I think my kids were using them to hold down blankets while making a fort), I decided that poetry was practically being thrust in my face. So I picked one of the heavy books up and read a bit.

The collection is called A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century (2nd edition).

Rather than flip around randomly, I read the first poems, which started with Caedmon and Cynewulf.

I felt like I was in a little over my head. I may not have picked the best way to explore poetry, but the Cynewulf excerpt was an overtly Christian poem and I think I understood it. The spacing was funny, but I’ll try to mimic it here in this sample:

…Great is our need

In our secret souls       that we seek salvation,

If we have in our hearts      a fervent faith

That the Healing Son,       the Living Saviour,

With our own body       ascended from earth.

Wherefore we should ever       despise idle lusts,

The wounds of sin,       finding bliss in the better.

We have for our comfort       our Father on high,

Almighty God.

One phrase in particular stood out to me from that Charles W. Kennedy translation of “Lines from the Ascension from The Redeemer” (lines 743-866):

“…finding bliss in the better.”

While Martha toiled in the kitchen preparing a meal for Jesus and his disciples, Mary sat at the Lord’s feet. The Lord Himself, Jesus, stated that Mary chose what was better.

I want, like Mary, to find bliss in the better.

Cynewulf continued,

Therefore I urge       each of my beloved

That he never slight       the need of his soul,

Nor engulf it in pride       while God may will

That here in the world       he has his dwelling

While soul fares in body,       that friendly inn.

Christ in me, and I in Him.

I want to be a friendly inn, in which Christ can dwell.

As I linger in His presence, I look to find bliss in the better…in Him.