poetry

Little Gidding

2017-10-01T18:32:10-04:00February 1st, 2017|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , |

Little Gidding is the tiny collection of farm buildings and a church not too far from Cambridge. It was the location of a small religious community headed by Nicholas Ferrar, who was a friend of the poet George Herbert. Eliot made a pilgrimage to the church and wrote his famous poem--the last of his Four Quartets. [...]

The Nativity

2015-12-25T07:41:50-04:00December 25th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , |

I saw a stable, low and very bare, A little child in a manger. The oxen knew Him, had Him in their care, To men He was a stranger. The safety of the world was lying there. And the world's danger. -- Mary Coleridge

Emily Dickinson: A Kind of Hermit

2015-12-04T19:39:06-04:00December 4th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , |

Emily Dickinson's Home with her room illuminated A reminder that there are those with a hermit's heart who are not Catholic and have never taken vows. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Although part of a prominent family with strong ties to its [...]

Tintern Abbey, South Wales, UK

2015-11-25T14:27:20-04:00November 25th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , , , , |

Tintern Abbey Tintern Abbey in South Wales is situated in the beautiful Wye Valley--the Wye being a river that runs along the border of England and Wales. The hills rise above the river valley on the England side, and crowning the line of hills is the ancient earthwork defenses called Offa's Dyke. When my [...]

Quarr Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight

2015-11-24T19:12:48-04:00November 24th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , , , , , |

Quarr Abbey If you came this way, Taking any route, starting from anywhere, At any time or at any season, It would always be the same: you would have to put off Sense and notion. You are not here to verify, Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity Or carry report. You are here to kneel [...]

The Cloister Walk

2015-11-12T10:15:18-04:00November 12th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , , |

The cloister is like the heart of the monastery. From the outside the monastery is imposing like a fortress. The walls rise up and the windows are small. When you enter the feel at first is like a great old school or university. It is perhaps intimidating. You are small and alone. The church inspires and [...]

Prayer: Reversed Thunder

2015-11-10T09:59:40-04:00November 10th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , |

Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,          God's breath in man returning to his birth,          The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage, The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,          Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,          The six-days world transposing in an hour, A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear; Softness, [...]

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