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Born to Us
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My Fearless Future
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Covering the Cover: School for Life
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The Community of Education
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Readers Respond: Issue 19
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Family and Friends: Issue 19
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Verena Arnold
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Tundra Swans
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A Debt to Education
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What’s the Good of a School?
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A School of One
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On Praying for Your Children
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The World Is Your Classroom
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The Good Reader
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Orchestras of Change
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The Habit of Lack Is Hell to Break
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Kindergarten
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The Given Note
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Editors’ Picks Issue 19
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Litanies of Reclamation
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The Children of Pyongyang
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How Far Does Forgiveness Reach?
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A Trio of Lenten Readers
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Michael and Margaretha Sattler
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The Blessed Woman of Nazareth
This little babe, so few days old,
Is come to rifle Satan’s fold;
All hell doth at his presence quake.
Though he himself for cold do shake,
For in this weak unarmèd wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field;
His naked breast stands for a shield;
His battering shot are babish cries,
His arrows looks of weeping eyes,
His martial ensigns cold and need,
And feeble flesh his warrior’s steed.
His camp is pitchèd in a stall,
His bulwark but a broken wall,
The crib his trench, hay stalks his stakes,
Of shepherds he his muster makes;
And thus, as sure his foe to wound,
The angels’ trumps alarum sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight;
Stick to the tents that he hath pight;
Within his crib is surest ward,
This little babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly boy.
Christoph Wetzel, Untitled, charcoal, 2008 Image courtesy of Christoph Wetzel
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Jeffrey E. Carpenter
The militant Baby; the minions of Hell. Not the Prince of Peace. I recall the Britten choral piece, and even sang it, transposed to include male voices. I never knew the author's story, of his persecution and execution. The metaphor is indeed the forces of God fighting those of Hell, yet the history suggests the sorry story of the split of Christendom, with villains and heroes to share.
David Wirick
powerful verse! More powerful truth!! Sang it several times as Benjamin Britten set it to amazing music. That song sticks in my head unlike any other! Thank you for publishing the entire poem!
Janice Steinhagen
I can still sing Benjamin Britten's setting of this wonderful piece from memory, thanks to having performed it twice with my college women's choir years ago. Thank you for sharing the backstory, of which I was not then aware. The rousing music adds a whole new layer of meaning to the words, as does the story of the poem's author.
Lawrence
Thank you! St. Robert was priest, poet, and martyr, and a reminder (not a Ms. Grundy nagger) to us all.
Andy Wilson
This poem changed my prejudices about the Jesuits,( who haven't had a good press in English history ). Robert Southwell explains in one short poem something that would take me - at least - (p)ages . . . Anyway thank-you folks. It is one to copy, remember and share. I do wonder tho', what, in detail, R.S's mission was among us. Restore the Borgias ? In England this was the age of John Bunnion . But whether or not he knew it, maybe he fulfills it with just this poem. Let's hope the message spreads ! Gan canny