[The Court of the Temple, Jerusalem, Model]from The Temple (1633), by George Herbert:

 

¶   The Dawning.

AWake sad heart, whom sorrow ever drowns;
       Take up thine eyes, which feed on earth;
Unfold thy forehead gather’d into frowns:
       Thy Saviour comes, and with him mirth:
                                       Awake, awake;
And with a thankfull heart his comforts take.
       But thou dost still lament, and pine, and crie;
       And feel his death, but not his victorie.

Arise sad heart; if thou dost not withstand,
       Christs resurrection thine may be:
Do not by hanging down break from the hand,
       Which as it riseth, raiseth thee:
                                       Arise, Arise;
And with his buriall-linen drie thine eyes:
       Christ left his grave-clothes, that we might, when grief
       Draws tears, or bloud, not want an handkerchief.

 


Religon Professor after class: Readers, even those who are religious, react to the last line as if Steven King wrote it. That is not the motive, nor the meaning. Christ conquered death. His "grave-clothes" remind us that our earthly sorrow can be wiped away by our faith in Christ's Resurrection. "Arise sad heart."


Destinations
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