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| Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave a framed copy of this painting to the author in the 1980's. |
The work is offered on behalf of my family to Our Blessed Lady, Regina Martyrum et Consolatrix Afflictorum.
For EEKPTEE&EA.
👈The Tears of St Peter (1587-1596)
El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614
Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso, Mexico.
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- 67 -
O sunnes! all but yourselues in light excelling,
Whose presence, day, whose absence causeth night;
Whose neighbour-course brings Sommer, cold expelling,
Whose distant periods freeze away delight. [400]
Ah! that I lost your bright and fostring beames,
To plung my soule in these congealed streames!
The eyes of the Lord are like suns . . .
O suns, whose brightness and power exceeds everything apart from yourselves. Your presence brings the light of day, whereas in your absence there is the darkness of the night. When you draw near, you bring the summer’s warmth, driving away the cold; but when you are far away, freezing cold forces out the joys of summer.
I lost your bright and radiant warmth through my sin, plunging my soul into the freezing cold left in your wake.
398. The syntax is here compressed; expanded, it would read: “Whose presence causeth day and whose absence causeth night.” Cf.
“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” [John viii. 12]“I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness.” [John xii. 46]
399. neighbour-course. The word course refers to the course of the sun in its orbit around the earth. This orbit is elliptical and when the sun is closest, or neighbour, to the earth, the season is that off summer.
neighbour. adj. Of peoples, countries, cities, etc.: situated next or close to another; neighbouring. Formerly also: †relating to neighbouring territories. Of things: nearby. 1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Jan. 50 I longed the neighbour towne to see.
401. fostring. Foster. To supply with food or nourishment; to nourish, feed, support. To ‘nurse’, tend with affectionate care; to ‘nurse’, cherish, keep warm (in the bosom). To encourage or help to grow; to promote the growth of (a fire, plant, etc.). 1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions i. i. 24 The moste pleasaunt plot of the earth, fostered to flourishe with the moisture of floudes on euery parte.
Another sense of foster is: To bring up (a child) with parental care; often, to bring up as a foster-child, be a foster-parent to. St Paul speaks of this in several passages, e.g.,
"Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will:" [Ephesians i. 5]
402. congealed. Congeal. To convert, by freezing, from a fluid or soft to a solid and rigid state, as water into ice; to freeze. 1577 R. Willes & R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Hist. Trauayle W. & E. Indies f. 231 Enforced there to ende his lyfe for colde, congealed and frosen to death.
streames. Stream. Perhaps in the following sense: A ray or beam of light; the tail of a comet. c1530 Court of Love 849 Now am I caught..With persant stremes of your yën clere. Cf. comets in line 361.
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O gratious spheres! where love the Center is,
A natiue place for our selfe-loaden soules;
The compasse, loue, a cope that none can mis: [405]
The motion, loue, that round about vs rowles:
O Spheres of love, whose Center, cope, and motion,
Is love of us, love that invites devotion!
These eyes of Christ are like two spheres or universes full of grace, where love is at the very centre. A place which is naturally congenial to our souls, which we ourselves by our sins have overburdened with remorse.
The whole extent of each universe is encompassed and measured by love, which is like a starry firmament that none can fail to see. The movement of the spheres in each universe is also driven by the love that revolves around us.
O sweet spheres of love, your centre and encompassing firmament are love, as is the movement of your revolving spheres; and this love is love for us, a love that calls on us for a devout and loving response!
Note. RS pictures the earth at the centre of a vast spherical space (which today might be described as the “universe.”) The extent of this space, i.e., that which is encompassed within its bounds, he calls its compasse. The earth is at the centre and, from this vantage point looking upwards, the human eye can discern the overarching canopy of the heavens, which RS calls the cope. The movement of the spheres is here referred to by the word motion (see infra 406. motion). In the imagery used here by RS, Christ’s eyes become two such “universes”.
403. gratious. Gracious. Of God, Christ, etc.: abounding in grace or mercy; merciful, compassionate; benevolent. a1568 R. Ascham in A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. (1576) 444 The moste mightie and gratious God..prolong your life in health and prosperitie.
sphere. The apparent outward limit of space, conceived as a hollow globe enclosing (and at all points equidistant from) the earth; the visible vault of heaven, in which the celestial bodies appear to have their place. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. x. sig. K5 He wondred much..What stately building durst so high extend Her lofty towres vnto the starry sphere.
404. natiue. Native.Inherent, innate; belonging to or connected with something by nature or natural constitution. Vid. 1599 J. Davies Nosce Teipsum 13 A Starre, whose beames do not proceed From any Sunne, but from a natiue light.
selfe-loaden. Self-laden.
405. compasse. Compass. Circumscribed area or space; in wider sense, space, area, extent. 1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 6 A certen compasse inclosed all about within the temple. transferred and figurative. Of time, etc. 1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 53 Within the cumpas of that worthi Emperors reign.
cope. A covering of vaulted form; a vault. cope of heaven n. the over-arching canopy or vault of heaven. 1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 1228 Whatso the heauen in his wide cope containes.
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xiv. vi. 10 From all parts of the wide world..within the cope and curtaine of heaven.
406. motion. A reference to the movement of the concentric, transparent, hollow globes imagined by the older astronomers as revolving round the earth and respectively carrying with them the several heavenly bodies (moon, sun, planets, and fixed stars). The number of these was originally supposed to be eight, subsequently increased to nine.
rowles. Rolls. intransitive. Of the heavens, the sun, or the earth: to trace its circular course, to perform a periodical revolution. 1601 S. Daniel Epist. to Countess Cumberland 95 in Wks. (Grosart) I. 206 The centre of this world, about the which These reuolutions of disturbances Still roule.
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Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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