Tuesday, 2/05/02
Yet Do I Marvel by Countee Cullen
I doubt not God is good, well-meaning,
kind
And did He stoop to quibble*
could tell why
The little buried mole continues
blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must
some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured
Tantalus*
Is baited by the fickle fruit,
declare
If merely brute caprice* dooms
Sisyphus*
To struggle up a never-ending
stair.
Inscrutable* His ways are, and
immune
To catechism* by a mind too
strewn
With petty* cares to slightly
understand
What awful* brain compels His
awful hand.
Yet do I marvel at this curious
thing:
To make a poet black, and bid
him sing!
quibble: worry about unimportant
stuff
caprice: fate or chance
Tantalus: Greek myth--Punished by
the gods by being chained in water up to his neck which he was unable to
drink and under a tree full of fruit which he could never reach.
Sisyphus: Greek myth--Punished by
the gods by having to endlessly push a giant rock up a hill. Just as the
rock approached the summit, it rolled back down again.
inscrutable: not able to be understood
catechism: religious training or
learning
petty: unimportant
awful: here it means awesome
5th period only: Correct English
B quiz
Web
Project continues.