Canto II from Keat's The Fall of Hyperion
'Mortal, that thou may'st understand aright,
'I humanize my sayings to thine ear,
'Making comparisons of earthly things;
'Or thou might'st better listen to the wind,
'Whose language is to thee a barren noise,
'Though it blows legend-laden through the trees.
'In melancholy realms big tears are shed,
'More sorrow like to this, and such like woe,
'Too huge for mortal tongue, or pen of scribe.
Fall of Hyperion
The gist here is that revelation - be it divine or poetic - is ultimately a mystery... something that must be "humanized" to our ears and eyes using "earthly things" to speak of heavenly matters... a task which ultimately fails for it is "too huge for mortal tongue or pen of scribe". I am contemplating "mystery" this week as i prepare a sermon on Romans 11:25-36... where Paul speaks of the mystery of the Gentiles now included in Israel.
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