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The Platypus Reads Goethe

Sun proclaims his old devotion
in rival song with brother spheres
and still completes in thunderous motion
circuits of his given years.

Angelic powers uncomprehending
strengthen as they gaze there fill
thy works unfathomed and unending
proclaim the first day's splendor still.

solemn earth with mind-appalling
swiftness upon itself rotates
and with the deep night's dreadful falling
it's primal radiance alternates.

High cliffs stand deep in ocean weather
white foaming surf roars out and in
and cliffs and seas rush on together
caught in the globe's unceasing spin.

And turn by turn the tempest raging
from sea to land from land to sea
builds up in passion unaswaging
chains of furious energy.

The thunder strikes, its flash is faster
it spreads destruction on its way
but we thy messengers oh master
revere thy gently circling day.

And all of us uncomprehending
strengthen as we gaze our fill
thy works unfathomed and unending
proclaim the first day's splendor still.

C.S. Lewis describes his ideal life in "Surprised by Joy" as one of quiet contemplation and study. He says that there is nothing wrong with such a life except that it is completely selfish; that is directed toward improvement of the self and not others. There is a kind of sanctified grace in the business of each day in so far as it forces us to come into contact with other people. There is a kind of rest that is not far from the icy pit of Dante's hell. As Mephistopheles discovers, man is restless till he finds his rest in God. It is not a cessassion, but a consummation; not the end of motion, but the fullness of motion. To the degree that our business keeps us restless, to the degree that it forces us to consider the needs, even the very existence of others, it is a mercy that keeps us from the powers of perpetual negation.

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