Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,Now leaves His
well-belov'd imprisonment,
There He hath made Himself to His intent
Weak enough, now into the
world to come;
But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn
no room?
~From Nativity by John Donne
I love how this poem talks about Christ being "cloistered" and "imprisoned" in the womb, like He will be imprisoned in the grave. But He has broken through both types of imprisonment and, in so doing, freed us.
happy new year my friend. may God bless you abundantly in the year to come, and may your Saint for 2011 watch over you and interceed on your behalf.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michele! I'm going to have to tr to learn more about her this year.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE Donne! This is a great passage. His imagery and language is so muscular and bold. Love it, love it, love it. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dymphna for this snippet.
ReplyDeleteThe inn is like so many wanting souls who do not know Who they are missing. Thank God, Jesus is now knocking, knocking,knocking.
"There He hath made Himself to His intent
ReplyDeleteWeak enough, now into the
world to come"
That's my favorite part -- realizing that He made Himself man described as "weak enough" really gives it meaning.
I didn't know Donne would elicit such a positive response! I'm going to have to look into him further.
ReplyDeleteHe really does use the English language well--each word being there for a particular reason.
Even this small snippet can be read and pondered again and again.