The Burning Babe

[jsburbidge]

 As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed

As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

- Robert Southwell

Comments

[graydon]

Merry Christmas!

[jsburbidge]

And happy Christmas to you.

Covid has vastly reduced my activity. I did not need to be up past midnight last night and mass tomorrow is cancelled. I will end up far more rested than usual...

[graydon]

Covid has vastly reduced my activity.

I hope this means the social consequences and not catching it!

[jsburbidge]

Not catching it, just things closing down on account of omicron. (All in a rush. Risk assessments based on R values and the like have not shifted a lot in the last few days, but people are responding viscerally to higher concrete numbers even when the numbers were predictable and predicted.)

[graydon]

Glad to hear!

It's hardly optimal risk analysis but I'd call it the correct outcome so I would not be much inclined to complain about anything except the lack of "sooner".