There is no one of my brothers [or
sisters]... that I can do without... In the heart of the meanest miser, the most
squalid prostitute, the most miserable drunkard, there is an immortal soul with
holy aspirations, which deprived of daylight, worships in the night. I hear them
speaking when I speak and weeping when I go down on my knees. There is no one of
them I can do without. Just as there are many stars in the heavens and their
power of calculation is beyond my reckoning so also there are many living
beings... I need them all in my praise of God. There are many living souls but
there is not one of them that I'm not in communion in the sacred apex where we
utter together the Our Father.
I have read accusations of Claudel being an anti-semite, Nazi, misogynist. I have only limited information about what else was going on in his life---agnostic to devout Catholic, travel, affairs, rejected application to live in an Abbey, etc.---and none of this makes his poetry speaks to me any less. It might even make the poems a little better.
Here's another one.
No comments:
Post a Comment