by Chesterton · Cluster: Self-Knowledge · Immortality · Self-Reliance
Abstract
Sonnet on the finitude of mortal knowledge against divine infinity: the poet longs for an immortal soul that might finally count the leaves and thank God for all the grass.
Testo / Text
Connections
Topoi: Memento Mori, Book of Nature Motifs: Nature, Grass Leaves of Grass, Prayer Themes & Concepts: Mortality, Immortality, Wonder and Gratitude, Self-Knowledge, Faith, Humility, Heaven and the Afterlife Forms & Genres: Sonnet Historical References: Bible
Testo integrale / Full text
Eternities
G.K.Chesterton
I cannot count the pebbles in the brook.
Well hath He spoken: “Swear not by thy head.
Thou knowest not the hairs,” though He, we read,
Writes that wild number in His own strange book.
I cannot count the sands or search the seas,
Death cometh, and I leave so much untrod.
Grant my immortal aureole, O my God,
And I will name the leaves upon the trees,
In heaven I shall stand on gold and glass,
Still brooding earth’s arithmetic to spell;
Or see the fading of the fires of hell
Ere I have thanked my God for all the grass.