hints and guesses

 i had a poetry class my senior year at kennedy high. one of the projects was to put together a collection new poems that we loved. it was a wonderful class taught by sister carol ann. it gave me a good foundation a the time for the beauty of the spoken word. but i do not remember reading any of t.s. eliot’s works. but here is a taste from this amazing poet.

i love the following passage and the imagery and truth behind the powerful words in his four quartets; dry salvages: “…YOU ARE THE MUSIC while the music lasts. these are only hints and guesses. hints followed by guesses and the rest is prayer, observance, discipline, thought, and action. the hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is incarnation”

here is the larger context:

“Men’s curiosity searches past and future
And clings to that dimension. But to apprehend

The point of intersection of the timeless
With time, is an occupation for the saint—
No occupation either, but something given
And taken, in a lifetime’s death in love,
Ardour and selflessness and self-surrender.
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses,
Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.
The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.
Here the impossible union
Of spheres of existence is actual,
Here the past and future
Are conquered, and reconciled…”

BE the music today and continue to look for the hints and guess as best you can!