Focus on Education Poets—And the Songs of Life

A little known poet W. E. Henley sang ever so courageously of life. He was a cripple for more than forty years. At the age of twelve, he was discovered to be suffering from a tubercular disease of the bone. One leg had to be amputated, and some years later the doctors advised amputation of the other. Despite his adversity, he continued to sing bravely of the beauty and sanctity of life.

Written over a 100 years ago, his poems still inspire in us the will to survive. Let me share one with you. Hopefully it will remain you that you are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. Called “Invictus,” it means literally “unconquered.”

“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole. I Thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find me, unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”

Another favorite poem was written by John Milton (1608-1674), who at age forty-four became totally blind. In this poem “On His Blindness,” one can feel the urgency that Milton feels to sustain his faith in living and in God despite an adverse disability. Every time I read it I feel blessed to be alive.

“When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent to serve therewith my Maker, and present my true account, Lest He returning chide; ‘Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?’ I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, ‘God doth not need Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed, And post o’er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait.”

This morning I have shared two short poems that have inspired me. But there are other poems that enlighten, poems that show the beauty of the world, poems that remain us of our mortality, or poems that display the splendiferous melodic flow of words. In poetry, the human soul sings of its deepest feelings and searches for the “right” words to bridge the gulf separating all of us from each other.

Return to 900 years B.C. when the ancient Greek poet Homer wandered about singing in the Odyssey, of the great saga of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wandered for twenty years trying to return home. Or listen to the plaintive music plucked from the lyre accompanying the ancient poets of Israel as they sang the beautiful verses from the ancient book called “The Song of Solomon.”

It is too sad that today we are so swept up in the tumultuous pursuit of “making a living” that we have few moments to listen to the songs of the inner soul. Kahil Gibran wrote that poets “are a torch to light us on our way, a sweet longing in our hearts, and a revelation of the divine in our dreams.” The songs-the poets-are still with us. Listen- listen carefully and you will hear them.

Strictly a personal view. Anthony Pellegrino writes every Monday and Tuesday. Mr. Pellegrino can be reached at tonypell@saipan.com