Anne Bradstreet's semi-colon

we read several of anne bradstreet's poems for class on monday.  i've read her poems many, many times before.  but this time, they were changed for me.  this time, i had eyes to see her deal with the struggles of earthly life honestly, while also consistently affirming the truth of God.  it was this poem that really got me.  the semicolon in line 4 is the key to all of bradstreet's work, i think...  more on that after the poem:

On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet, Who Died on 16 November, 1669, Being But a Month, and One Day Old

No sooner came, but gone, and fall'n asleep.
Acquaintance short, yet parting caused us weep;
Three flowers, two scarcely blown, the last i' th' bud,
Cropped by th' Almighty's hand; yet is He good.
With dreadful awe before Him let's be mute,
Such was His will, but why let's not dispute,
With humble hearts and mouths put in the dust,
Let's say He's merciful as well as just.
He will return and make up all our losses,
And smile again after our bitter crosses.
Go pretty babe, go rest with sisters twain;
Among the blest in endless joys remain.

the subject of the poem on its own is incredibly moving.  mourning the loss of her third grandchild, bradstreet confronts God's nature.  and the key, i think, is in that fourth line and its semi-colon.

the first half of the sentence acknowledges that the death of these beloved children is part of God's will--they have been "cropped" by His hand.  then, a small pause.  the semi-colon.  not a complete break, but a pause.  and, finally, an affirmation of God's goodness: "yet is He good."  period.  the line is perfectly balanced--the thing we don't understand set in perfect tension and balance with the truth we rely on.  it's amazing what a semi-colon can do. 

reading on through bradstreet's work, she comes back to this again and again.  difficult things happen. yet is He good.

"pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language."

Paloma, 12-year old co-narrator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery:

"Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty.  When you speak, or read, or write, you can tell if you've said or read or written a fine sentence.  You can recognize a well-turned phrase or an elegant style.  But when you are applying the rules of grammar skillfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language.  When you use grammar you peel back the layers, to see how it is all put together, see it quite naked, in a way.  And that's where it becomes wonderful, because you say to yourself, "Look how well-made this is, how well-constructed it is!  How sold and ingenious, rich and subtle!"  I get completely carried away just knowing there are words of all different natures, and that you have to know them in order to be able to infer their potential usage and compatibility.  I find there is nothing more beautiful, for example, than the very basic components of language, nouns and verbs.  When you've grasped this, you've grasped the core of any statement.  It's magnificent, don't you think?  Nouns, verbs..."

Ah.

a good and timely word

so, this morning i was reading in 2 corinthians, chapter 4 and came across a few verses that are so familiar, but that i hadn't really paused over before:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (v. 8-10)

there's so much there that is dramatic and a little scary--being afflicted, persecuted, struck down--but what stood out to me today is that we are "perplexed, but not driven to despair."  i don't often feel particularly persecuted in dramatic ways.  but i do feel perplexed.  often.  and it's hard, sometimes, not to feel like that is going to tip right on over into despair. 

so, it's encouraging to me that we do not have to understand everything--that we will not understand everything--and that that is okay.  we can be perplexed.  we are perplexed.  but, because of Jesus, we are not driven to despair. 

what a relief.