Poetry in Motion

 

       Squirrel monkeys move with energy (and seeming joy) through life.  Full-grown monkeys are small enough; the babies are really tiny.  These creatures are my favorite zoo animal, capturing my attention even more than the big, grand and striking animals.  (Generally, I like most zoo exhibits.)  

       These photos are from the Wildlife World Zoo in Phoenix, AZ and the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, TX.  Both of these are private zoos. These seem to more commonly house squirrel monkeys in modern times; it seems the bigger, public zoos often don't bother with these charming little creatures, which are native to the tropical forests of Cental and South America.

       What must things have been like, interacting with monkeys in the Garden of Eden?  What will our interactions with animals be like in heaven? 

Squirrel Monkeys: Oakland Zoo

A Mighty Fortress

 

     October 31st is Reformation Day for Lutherans*.  In honor of this, here is the best known hymn by Martin Luther for you to read as a poem.  It is based on Psalm 46 and was written around 1529.  Some people think Luther wrote it in remembrance of his friend Leonhard Kaiser, who was martyred due to the Reformation.   

     The translation from German included here is closer to the original German, a little less like the modern hymn.   It is based somewhat on literal translations and somewhat on the known translations, with adaptations by this blogger.

     The picture included is the Luther's Rose**, designed by him.  It is rich in symbolism.  

1) A mighty Fortress is our God,

A good Defense and Weapon.

He helps us free from every need.   

That has us now o'ertaken.

The old evil enemy

Works still more earnestly.

His pow'r and ploys are great;

His armor is cruel hate:

On earth is not his likeness.

2) With our own strength is nothing done,

Else quick our loss effected.

But for us fights the suitable One, 

Whom God Himself elected. 

You ask who is He who came?

Christ Jesus is His name,

Of heav'nly hosts the Lord, 

God's only Son adored:

The battlefield He must hold.

3)  Though all  the world with devils were filled

All threat'ning to devour us,

We would not fear, for God has willed

They cannot overpow'r us.

The prince of worldly power,

Howe'er he might glower,

We will not be budged:

Since he's already judged,

One little word can bring him down.

4) The Word they still shall let remain

And not be thankful for it.

He is with us according to plan

With His good gifts and Spirit.

Were they to take our life,

Goods, honor, child and wife,

Let them go away.

They still will have no sway:

The Kingdom shall remain for us.

     ---Martin Luther, c. 1529; translation by various; adapted c.m.b., 2023

*Reformation Day, October 31st.  Centuries before this, the Roman Catholic church had taken over the Druid observance of Samhain. The Druids believed the barrier between the worlds of dead and living was "thinnest" at midnight on October 31st. The Church repurposed November 1st as All Saints' Day. October 31st became known as "All Hallows' Eve" in English. Luther chose the day before All Saints Day, by tradition, to post his 95 Theses (statements) in German on a church door, calling for a debate among church leaders and scholars. These were translated and sparked the Protestant Reformation.

**Luther's Rose:  this was first sketched by Luther around 1516 to 1520 and fully designed at the request of Johann Friedrich, Elector of Saxony. The black cross represents Jesus' sacrifice, the blackness symbolizing our sin. The red heart symbolizes our faith; Luther said that because of our sin, the heart ought to be black, yet, due to Christ, the heart is not utterly destroyed.  The heart is on a white rose, to show that faith gives joy, comfort and peace:  white is the color of angels and spirits.  The sky blue field symbolizes joy and that faith is the beginning of future heavenly joy.  The gold ring symbolizes precious eternity, which has no beginning and end.  

This rendering has the triple phrase often used by Lutherans, sometimes written in Latin: sola fide, sola gratia, sola Scriptura.  A fourth could be added:  solus Christus, Christ alone.

Waterfall

      These photos are from a hike into Zapata Falls in south central Colorado last year.  The waterfalls are in the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") Range within the Rocky Mountains.  (For more on our trip there, see the post from October, 2020.)

      Some fresh translations from Psalm 42 add to the reflections.

7) Deep calls unto deep

At the noise of Your waterfalls; 

And all your waves and billows

Over me have passed.

8) In the daytime will Yahweh command His lovingkindness,

And in the night will his song be with me--

   a prayer to the God of my life...

11) Why, O my soul, are you cast down,

And why are you disquieted within me? 

Have hope in God,

For yet shall I praise Him,

The salvation of my expression [literally 'face']

And my God.    --Sons of Korah  

Notice how the falls spill from rocks high above.  Hikers are not allowed in that area.

    For fans of the Chronicles of Narnia, which are Christian allegories, waterfalls are in many stories.  C.S. Lewis' upbringing in parts of Ireland contributed to his depictions of Narnia.  I like occasionally mentioning Narnia in this blog because Lewis does such an amazing job describing the landscape.  It is part of the great joy of going to Narnia. The Hollywood productions (as Hollywood will do) focus so much on the great breathtaking near escapes that the amount of time just absorbing natural wonders is lost.

     Lewis does mentions a number of waterfalls throughout The Chronicles of Narnia. The most well-known is in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the Beavers take the Pevensie children along the ravine below a waterfall in order to avoid being caught by the White Witch.  She traveled by sled and couldn't follow them down the narrow space. 

    The Great Waterfall is at the furthest western limit of Narnia.  Falling over spectacular cliffs into Cauldron Pool, it becomes the source of the Great River. 

    In the last book. The Last Battle, the trickster ape, Shift, lives near these falls.  He finds a lion skin in Cauldron Pool and tricks his foolish donkey friend, Puzzle, into wearing it and pretending to be Aslan, the Great Lion (the metaphor for Jesus).  This great hoax brings down Narnia.  

    At the end of Narnia, as the move into ever greater, more beautiful eternal Narnias, Aslan's dearest go UP the great waterfall, in a way they never could have done in their previous lives.  (Imagine climbing those!)  I could not find any artist renditions of the beloved going up the Narnian falls, so I will leave you with these final Zapata Falls photos.  My husband took these.  If you look close, you can see me in blue shirt with the giant straw hat, which I refer to as my "ugly potato farmer's hat."  (This is not to imply that potato farmers are ugly, only that my hat is.)  It has warded off skin cancer, though!  And then he took one of me closer up, getting the photos you saw above.  What a day it would have been if we COULD have ascended the falls!

Thanksgiving of Another Sort

 

  For more thoughts for this Thanksgiving season, click the "autumn" link to the left on the desktop version of this blog.

Lakes & Rivers

We took a trip to the White Mountains in Arizona this fall.  Yes, this, too is Arizona.  (It's not all desert and the large, branching saguaro cacti.  BTW, AZ is the only state in the US where those cacti grow.)  Here are some photos of Big Lake in the White Mountains (near Greer) and the Little Colorado River near Springerville.   

There are other blog postings, as noted, with some of the autumnal plant life from this trip.

There is related Biblical poetry woven throughout the various postings.

Enjoy!  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans reading this. Blessed fall season to the rest of my Northern Hemisphere friends reading this!

[Yahweh says]:

"I will open rivers on the bare heights

And springs within the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water

And dry lands springs of water."  Isaiah 41:18

[Part "deux"]

See, there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God, the dwelling places of the Most High.  Psalm 46:4

Then [the angel] showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb... On each side of the river was the Tree of Life... No longer will there be any curse... they [the people of God] will see His Face...  from Revelation chapter 22, a vision of heaven.

 

Now Winter Nights Enlarge

[for winter, nature & Valentine's Day]

Now winter nights enlarge

The number of their hours;

And clouds their storms discharge

Upon the airy towers.

Let now the chimneys blaze

And cups o’erflow with wine,

Let well-turned words amaze

With harmony divine.

Ft. Tuthill, Northern Arizona

Now yellow waxen lights

Shall wait on honey love

While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights

Sleep’s leaden spells remove.

This time doth well dispense

With lovers’ long discourse;

Much speech hath some defense,

Though beauty no remorse.

All do not all things well;

Some measures comely tread,

Some knotted riddles tell,

Some poems smoothly read.

The summer hath his joys,

And winter his delights;

Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,

They shorten tedious nights.

     --By Thomas Campion; ~1601

b.12 February 1567, d. 1 March 1620 

It's Grand

Recent anniversary trip up to the Grand Canyon:

 

Elk

Scrub Jay

 

Mule Deer

Thanksgiving

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway --
Thanksgiving comes again!    ---Old Rhyme

I shall know why (untitled)

193

I shall know why—when Time is over—
And I have ceased to wonder why—
Christ will explain each separate anguish
In the fair schoolroom of the sky*—

He will tell me what "Peter" promised**—
And I—for wonder at his woe—
I shall forget the drop of Anguish
That scalds me now—that scalds me now!

---Emily Dickinson, circa 1880

* Many people have speculated that in heaven, we will have all our questions answered, but that, then, it won't matter anymore.

**Probably a reference to Peter's promise to Jesus that he absolutely would not deny Him through the hard times coming up. Those hard times were Jesus's trial later that night, His suffering and His death. Peter did, indeed, deny Christ, three times, and then went out and wept bitterly when the rooster crowed (as Jesus had prophesied), and Peter laid eyes on Jesus. This was Peter's anguish. Dickinson is probably making a parallel to the ways she knows she has fallen short and the anguish that brings, realizing that her anguish will fade when (1) confronted by Peter's in person and (2) she is in the presence of Christ. Since "Peter" is in quotes, Dickinson may be going beyond the literal Peter of the Bible to refer to someone, some man, who left her feeling betrayed.

Who Am I?

Dietrich Bonhöffer, a young [Lutheran] theologian of great promise [from the German state church], was martyred by the Nazis for his participation in a plot against the life of Adolf Hitler. His writings have greatly influenced recent theological thought. This article appeared in the Journal Christianity and Crisis, March 4, 1946. [Some Lutherans question the depth or expression of his Lutheran theology, but this is a moving poem, regardless.]

Who am I? 

They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equally, smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
Tossing in expectation of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!* 

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer; March 4,1945

*Because Jesus died on the cross for us