What I'm Reading Now

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 say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Robert Frost

St Ephrem's Nativity Hymn 13
………………..It is as if your love
hungers for human beings.
You distinguish not your parents
from strangers, nor the one who bore You
from maidservants, nor the one who nursed You
from harlots. Is this your boldness
or your love, all-merciful One?
What moves You to bestow yourself
upon each who has seen You – upon the rich
and upon the poor? With them You take shelter
without them invoking You. From where did it come to You
so to hunger for human beings?

St Ephrem's Nativity Hymn 16
I shall not be jealous, my son, that You are both with me
and with everyone. Be God
to the one who confesses You, and be Lord
to the one who serves You, and be brother
to the one who loves You so that You might save all.
While You dwelt in me, both in me and outside of me
your majesty dwelt. While I gave birth to You
openly, your hidden power
was not removed from me. You are within me,
and You are outside of me, O Mystifier of His mother.

St Ephrem's Nativity Hymn 19
…………..Through You, Honorable One,
even worthless things become beautiful.
So great is contact with You that even if someone
throw a stone at You, it would be a pearl.
Even your sweat, for one who is worthy,
is a baptism, and the dust of your garments
for one who is infirm, is a great fount
of all aids, and even your spittle
if it reach the face, would enlighten the eyes.
If upon a stone You should rest your head,
they would divide it and tear it apart, and if You slept
upon a dunghill, it would become a church
for prayers, and if, again, You broke
ordinary bread, for us it would be the medicine of life.
Who will revile You? For even your abuse
is a blessing of the peoples. Who will kill You?
For even your death is the word of life
for men. And even if you mount
a cross, You are the Paschal Lamb.