Last week's Sermonette was about the joy of the apocalyptics that the Middle East conflagration signaled the End Times. This week we turn to Robert Frost's version, and address it with all due respect to our fellow human beings in Israel and Palestine:
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost (1874-1963). From Harper's magazine, December 1920
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One of my favorites, thanks.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
Considering global warming (fire) is melting ice caps, some on this earth (not necessarily and not exclusively humans)will no doubt die of both fire and ice.
From what I see, we have both fire and ice in the current
war of Israel. Fire, for sure: huge flaring anger in the "god shall smote thee" old testament style on the part of Israel. Ice on the part of the United States, cold and merciless, completely devoid of any empathy for the terror and needless suffering the ordinary people of Lebanon, Palestine and Israel are undergoing at the hands of these angry demigods. Condoleeza Rice says "no cease fire" until it will bring about a lasting change: this meaning of course until enough death and destruction has been reigned down on the civilian infrastructure to bring Lebanon to its knees. I would rename her Condoleeza Ice.
MiH:"I would rename her Condoleeza Ice."
Steve Earle thinks she's hot. Temporarily posted as a low res (16K bps) MP3 for your listening pleasure. It's a hoot.