{"id":117748,"date":"2023-01-02T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T17:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=117748"},"modified":"2023-01-02T12:57:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T17:57:25","slug":"w-h-audens-christmas-oratorio-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=117748","title":{"rendered":"W.H. Auden’s Christmas Oratorio"},"content":{"rendered":"

The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
\nAnd the children got ready for school. There are enough
\nLeft-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week —
\nNot that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
\nStayed up so late, attempted — quite unsuccessfully —
\nTo love all of our relatives, and in general
\nGrossly overestimated our powers. Once again
\nAs in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed
\nTo do more than entertain it as an agreeable
\nPossibility, once again we have sent Him away,
\nBegging though to remain His disobedient servant,
\nThe promising child who cannot keep His word for long.<\/b>
\nThe Christmas Feast is already a fading memory,
\nAnd already the mind begins to be vaguely aware
\nOf an unpleasant whiff of apprehension at the thought
\nOf Lent and Good Friday which cannot, after all, now
\nBe very far off.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read it all<\/a> (my emphasis).<\/p>\n

\n

Gloria in eccelsis deo, cries the angel silently. Stolen by the mafia in 1969, never recovered, alas! Caravaggio's late great Adoration of the shepherds. pic.twitter.com\/viO4ugqYRz<\/a><\/p>\n

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) December 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n