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Part of the joy...
Part of the joy of reading poetry is the space between words.
Not literal space of course, but the space it creates in our heads where we wonder.
Good poetry creates wonder, not just a wonder about an author’s meaning, but wonder coming out of ourselves as we consider who we are and what we are living within.
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I recommend you pull up the poem on the Internet and read it along side my comments. It’s worth it. I’ll wait.
We are in section 1 of 4 sections.
I will pull out parts and phrases I find interesting and encourage you to do the same.
Let me begin today’s reflection by evaluating the first line in Section 1 with the last line.
Here they are:
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
Now the last line:
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Now look at the first two words and the last two words:
Time present <> always present.
Eliot begins by wondering about the relationships between past, present, and future.
The body of the poem is how Eliot considers this problem.
And the final line is his conclusion.
The present is a POINT in time. The point in time. Your point in time. We just have now to include all our thoughts and speculations.
The present is our focal point where our imagination and speculations all must arrive in order to affect our lives.
From the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus speaking.
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.