{"id":3084,"date":"2019-09-13T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=3084"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:42:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:42:58","slug":"sept-13-e-e-cummings-i-am-a-little-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/09\/13\/sept-13-e-e-cummings-i-am-a-little-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 13 – e e cummings “I am a little church”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday September 13 –<\/p>\n

I have not posted this compelling e e cummings post in several years. When i read it, i wonder how i could have passed over one of e e\u2019s master works. Brave and strong enough to stand erect where Friday the 13th and mean political winds blow across the world.<\/p>\n

Best to read out loud, with pauses. Have a blest weekend.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

p.s. i am in the second week of my sabbatical, here on the vast high plains of the pine ridge Lakota Reservation, surely one of the sacred places of my last 50 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

e. e. cummings<\/strong>, a self-portrait<\/p>\n

i am a little church(no great cathedral) by e.e. cummings<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
\nfar from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
\n-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
\ni am not sorry when sun and rain make april<\/p>\n

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
\nmy prayers are prayers of earth’s own clumsily striving
\n(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
\nwhose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness<\/p>\n

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
\nbirth and glory and death and resurrection:
\nover my sleeping self float flaming symbols
\nof hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains<\/p>\n

i am a little church(far from the frantic
\nworld with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
\n-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
\ni am not sorry when silence becomes singing<\/p>\n

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
\nmerciful Him Whose only now is forever:
\nstanding erect in the deathless truth of His presence
\n(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday September 13 – I have not posted this compelling e e cummings post in several years. When i read it, i wonder how i could have passed over one of e e\u2019s master works. Brave and strong enough to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3086,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions\/3086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}