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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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Here solitary Muses nurse my griefes,
In silent lonenesse burying worldly noyse; [740]
Attentive to rebukes, deafe to reliefes,
Pensive to foster cares, carelesse of joyes;
Ruing lifes losse, under deathes dreary roofes
Solemnizing my funerall behoofes.
As I said, sorrow has now become my home and here I am nursed in my pain and grief, as though by a group of silent and solitary ministers from heaven. This is a place of silence where I am on my own, insulated from the world’s commotion; attentive to the reproaches of conscience, paying no heed to the relief of consolation; thinking carefully about how to nurse sorrows, and not caring to think much about comfort and joy; ruing the soul’s loss of its supernatural life whilst, in this place of death, preparations are made with due solemnity to meet the requirements for a funeral.
739. Muses. 1. Each of the nine goddesses regarded as presiding over and inspiring learning and the arts, esp. poetry and music. 2. The source of an artist's inspiration; the presiding spirit or force behind any person or creative act. 3. Perhaps in this context, not pagan entities but celestial beings: Cf. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 6 Thou [sc. Urania] Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st, but Heav'nlie borne,..Thou with Eternal wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy Sister, and with her didst play In presence of th'Almightie Father.
nurse. To care for (a person) during sickness or infirmity; to help through an illness, etc. To rear or bring up, or bring back to health, by means of careful tending or attention. 1562 J. Heywood Wks. ii. vii God graunt (quoth I) the head and bodie both twoo. To nourse eche other, better then they doo.
1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 2 A bodie almost deuoured..cannot easily be..nursed vp.
740. lonenesse. The quality or condition of being lone; solitariness; loneliness; lonesomeness. 1609 S. Daniel Civile Wares (rev. ed.) viii. lxxi. 221 Shee feares the fatall daunger of the place, Her loneness, and the powre of Maiestie.
741. reliefes. relief. Alleviation of or deliverance from distress, anxiety, or some other emotional burden; the feeling accompanying this; mental relaxation, release, or reassurance. 1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1928) xxxii. 158 They hoped for to haue releue Of theyr impryson whych dyde them so greue.
742. pensive. 1. full of thought; meditative, reflective. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. C.ii With pensyfe heart full fraight with thoughts, I fled from thence away.
2. Thoughtful, meditative, or anxious. a1500 (▸1422) J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 138 (MED) A kynge..sholde be Purveyaunt and Pensyfe of thynges that may come aftyrwarde.
foster. To encourage, cherish, harbour fondly, nurse (a feeling, etc.); to encourage, promote the development of; (of things, circumstances) to be favourable or conducive to. 1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. x. 166 The Arrians, the Anabaptists, the Familie of loue with all others of the like sort, fostered vp their errors in secret and darke corners.
cares. care. Mental suffering, sorrow, grief, trouble. 1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. D.iij In my glasse..I can perceiue, how kingdomes breede but care. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) ii. iv. 4 So Cares and Ioyes abound, as Seasons fleet.
carelesse. Unconcerned; not caring or troubling oneself; not solicitous, regardless; having no care of, about, or †to. 1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 59 Seeinge the father carelesse what they learne, he is also secure what he teacheth.
743. ruing lifes losse . . . deathes dreary roofes. Ruing or regretting the loss of supernatural life from the soul.
The loss of life / death here indicated is the death of the soul through the loss of sanctifying grace resulting from mortal sin.
“For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” [Matt. xvi. 25-6]
dreary. Full of sadness or melancholy; sad, doleful, melancholy: 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 822 Singing drerie lamentations.
744. Solemnizing. solemnize. To hold, observe, perform, †proclaim, etc., with some amount of ceremony or formality. 1603 in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 72 To-morrow..wee doe solemnise the funerails..of her late Majesty.
funerall. funeral. 1. Of or relating to the ceremonial burial or cremation of the dead; 1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore i. i. 16 Funerall griefe loathes words.
2. Mournful, gloomy, melancholy; funereal. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) f. 123v Though ye se me not now make funerall wepynges and waylynges, as I dyd at the deth of my sonne, yet thynke not but it doth brenne my hart.
behoofs. behoof. What it behoves one to do; obligation, duty. 1591 R. Southwell Marie Magdalens Funeral Teares f. 52v It considereth behoofe, more than benefite, and what in dutie it shoulde, not what in deede it can.
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A selfe contempt, the shroud: my soule, the corse: [745]
The beere, an humble hope: the herse cloth, feare:
The mourners, thoughtes, in blackes of deepe remorse:
The herse, grace, pittie, love and mercy beare.
My teares, my dole: the priest, a zealous will:
Pennance, the tombe: and dolefull sighes the knill. [750]
Regarding this funeral:
the shroud is self-contempt;the lifeless body : my soul;the bier : hope grounded in humility;the hearse-cloth : fear;the mourners, dressed in black to show deep remorse : my thoughts,;the four pall-bearers : grace, pity, love and mercy;the funeral offering : my tears;the officiating priest : a fervent will;the tomb : penance; andthe death-knells : sorrowful sighs.
745. selfe contempt. Self-contempt. Contempt or loathing for oneself or one's actions. In early use often with positive connotations of humility. 1563 L. Humphrey Nobles or of Nobilitye iii. sig. t.vii Whych consideracion bringeth modesty, and selfe contempt. 1591 R. Southwell Marie Magdalens Funeral Teares f. 68 A submitted soule..the deeper it sinketh in a selfe contempt [etc.].
corse. corpse. A dead body; = corpse. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. sig. L5v The sencelesse corse appointed for the graue.
746. beere. bier. The movable stand on which a corpse, whether in a coffin or not, is placed before burial; that on which it is carried to the grave. 1611 Bible (King James) Luke vii. 14 Hee came and touched the beere .
herse cloth. Hearse-cloth. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 231/1 Herse clothe, poille.
blacks. In plural. Hangings of black cloth used in churches, etc., at funerals; funereal drapery. Also occasionally in singular and figurative. 1608 T. Middleton Mad World, my Masters ii. sig. Cv Ile pay him agen when he dies, in so many blacks, Ile haue the Church hung round with a noble a yard.
dole. 1. Grief, sorrow, mental distress. 1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xliii. vi Why art thou, my soule, Cast down in such dole?
2. The expression of sorrow or grief; mourning, weeping, lamentation; chiefly in to make dole, to lament, mourn. a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) i. ii. 121 Making such pittiful dole .
3. Clothing or trappings worn as a sign of mourning; ‘mourning’. 1599 Sickness & Death Philip II in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 286 My body shall be borne by eight of my chiefest servants..all in dewle.
4. That which is distributed or doled out; esp. a gift of food or money made in charity; RS-DS suggests “funeral offering.” [p169].
750. knill. knell. The sound made by a bell when struck or rung, esp. the sound of a bell rung slowly and solemnly, as immediately after a death or at a funeral. 1591 E. Spenser Daphnaïda 334 Let..the ayre be fil'd with noyse of dolefull knells. 1647 H. More Philos. Poems i. iii. xxi Ever and anon a dolefull knill Comes from the fatall Owl.
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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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