[25] The Poet's Testament

Guest poem sent in by Rajeev Chakravarthi <rajeevc@>

I give back to the earth what the earth gave,
All to the furrow, none to the grave,
The candle's out, the spirit's vigil spent;
Sight may not follow where the vision went.

I leave you but the sound of many a word
In mocking echoes haply overheard,
I sang to heaven. My exile made me free,
from world to world, from all worlds carried me.

Spared by the furies, for the Fates were kind,
I paced the pillared cloisters of the mind;
All times my present, everywhere my place,
Nor fear, nor hope, nor envy saw my face.

Blow what winds would, the ancient truth was mine,
And friendship mellowed in the flush of wine,
And heavenly laughter, shaking from its wings
Atoms of light and tears for mortal things.

To trembling harmonies of field and cloud,
Of flesh and spirit was my worship vowed.
Let form, let music, let all quickening air
Fulfil in beauty my imperfect prayer.

   -- George Santayana

  George Santayana is considered a contemporary architect of philosophic
  thought. He balanced his many interests to make considerable contributions
  in literature and philosophy. He distinguished himself as a professor of
  philosophy at Harvard University, teaching philosophy as a way of life
  rather than just as an academic subject.

  He was a philosopher, poet, critic of culture and literature, and
  best-selling novelist. Although born in Spain, Santayana said that he must
  be considered an American author and philosopher. Educated in the United
  States, he taught at Harvard University for over twenty years. He retired
  from Harvard in order to be a full-time writer and philosopher (he had
  planned for early retirement since the mid-1890s, but Harvard's president
  prevailed upon him to stay two years longer than he planned). Although he
  was invited to hold positions at Oxford University, Harvard University,
  and Brown University, he chose to live the remaining forty years of his
  life in Europe traveling and writing, finally settling in Rome in a
  Catholic hospital-clinic in 1941 after an unsuccessful attempt to leave
  the country for Switzerland during World War II. He was then seventy-nine
  years old. These forty international years were remarkably productive in
  terms of his literary corpus, and his correspondence as a celebrated
  philosopher and writer was extensive. He is one of a few philosophers to
  appear on the cover of Time magazine (3 February 1936).

    - Introduction to the Letters of George Santayana

What attracted me to poetry was the music and the sense of rhythm of it all.
This was not always the case with most of the works that I read, where the
beat wasn't apparent the first time. This particular poem was a notable
exception - simple, no frills, and it goes straight to your heart. I like to
think of it as the reason why we read poetry....

Regards

Rajeev

PS : Incidentally, Will Durant's masterpiece - The Story of Philosophy -
has a chapter on Santayana and his philosophical work, for those
interested....