St. Augustine final words, lines from Fr. Edward 28 Aug 2013

Dear Edward, 

You kindly intended the Poem ATTACHMENT.

A mystery of opening the message.

This was a puzzle for downloading the poem.

It was in fact a URL, the Link to be copied and pasted to the Toolbar, and eventially came to the surface.

Thank you.   

In Dno.,

Donald, domdonald.org.uk 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: edward . . .
To: Donald . . . 

Sent: Friday, 30 August 2013, 12:42
Subject: St. Augustine - a re-sending of the poem

Dear Father Donald,

Thank you for your Email  I must have failed to establish the connection between the poem and the email. I had sent  it as Bcc to about eight recipients, so I will send it to all of you.

. . . 

Blessings in Domino,

fr Edward O.P..  

P.S. Thank you for sending your blog.

“He is not a great man ...”

The final words of Augustine;

his native city was surrounded; not linked Legionwise, shield to shield,

but clumped with their horses

at varying distances from the city’s limits.

Were there pauses with brief encounters

between besiegers and besieged?

Were there pauses for trading,

and others for marauding and stealing?

In his house the Bishop had had

psalms and prayers written large on the walls.

His study was filled with books and papers.

Would he need more those parchment fragments,

pumiced clean,

with their references,

their plans,

their notes and reminders?

Desert dust was long settled on those curling scraps

and he was now lost in thought and in God,

articulating passing ascents to illuminations,

even unions.

His writings were piled with greater neatness

awaiting deposition after transportation -

but where?

He would be transported to his grave

when life had ebbed completely,

and he had consigned his thought

to his accustomed listeners.

But from whence came those lines from Plotinus on mortality?

Porphyry he had quoted many times in his two great writings,

but his master from Tyre he had not cited!

Perhaps they were sent by a connoisseur

who had linked them with the arrival of the horsemen.

Adversity had not sapped his courage

as he continued to himself:

“... who think it a great thing

that beams and walls should fall

and mortal man should perish!”

Fr. Edward

Stykkisholmur

on his feastday - 28 August 2013