THE BOTANICAL GARDENS IN AUTUMN
by me
As the year sets slowly in the West
Its last dying glow
Sets fire to the gardens.
Chrysanthemums blaze
Virginia creeper reddens on stone walls
Walking here, nearly forty, I know
How short it all is, how quickly it goes
Shivering, I warm myself at the dahlia’s flame
The firethorne’s hot coals.
And I am a lot older than that now... and grateful to be here, though it is all getting painful and difficult.
Philip Larkin, who had a horror of his coming death all his life, wrote:
"Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break"
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/philip_larkin/poems/14537
The "huge and birdless silence" is getting closer. And we are right to be horrified by it. We were not made to die.
But the Inspired Scriptures assure us that Jehovah can and will remember us, keep us safe in "the everlasting arms", and wake us up when the time comes.
So I hope Philip Larkin has a wonderful awakening ahead of him into the restored earthly Paradise. Given that he saw so clearly the horror of death, he will be so happy to know that he has before him the prospect of life "to time indefinite". All we have to do is love our Creator, listen to Him and obey Him. And, in the new earth, nothing will be easier, or make us happier.
Philip Larkin, who had a horror of his coming death all his life, wrote:
"Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break"
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/philip_larkin/poems/14537
The "huge and birdless silence" is getting closer. And we are right to be horrified by it. We were not made to die.
But the Inspired Scriptures assure us that Jehovah can and will remember us, keep us safe in "the everlasting arms", and wake us up when the time comes.
So I hope Philip Larkin has a wonderful awakening ahead of him into the restored earthly Paradise. Given that he saw so clearly the horror of death, he will be so happy to know that he has before him the prospect of life "to time indefinite". All we have to do is love our Creator, listen to Him and obey Him. And, in the new earth, nothing will be easier, or make us happier.
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