The Humours of the Seminarian's House

The Humours of the Seminarian's House

Original Text
Rosemarie Rowley, The Broken Pledge and Other Poems ([Dublin]: Tallaght, 1985): 31.
2Is living done each day instead of dying;
3A portion of our day makes up time's race
4And absolute grandeur is signified by trying.
6Which soon would doom us for our knowledge, prying
7And in the wide corridor of eternal face
8Mankind's truth is seen, a shadow lying.
9Therefore, show us the way our human purpose lies
10To find You, fathomless 'neath interfusing skies,
11Each path Your glory, each word Your domain,
12And language whole with Your intention plain
13For if to love You is our dearest destiny,
14Let us first understand You, right in infinity.

Notes

1] Seminarian: trainee priest or Jesuit. Back to Line
5] Energy equals mass, multiplied by the speed of light, squared: e=m*(c*c), an allusion to the atom bomb. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2007
Form
Special Copyright

Copyright © Rosemarie Rowley 2007. Not to be republished without permission of the poet.