Poets From England

"Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do."

"Since we are what we are, what shall we be But what we are? We are, we have Six feet and seventy years, to see The light, and then resign it for the grave."

"The ultimate aim of politics is not politics, but the activities which can be practised within the political framework of the State. Therefore an effective statement of these activities — e.g. science, art, religion — is in itself a declaration of ultimate aims around which the political means will crystallise … a society with no values outside of politics is a machine carrying its human cargo, with no purpose in its institutions reflecting their care, eternal aspirations, loneliness, need for love."

"With irony — though never with bitterness — Sydney satirised every form of self-righteous faith; to be without doubt was, to him, the ultimate in godless pride. In two books, The Rock Of Doubt (1978) and Dance In The Dark (1980), he set out the signposts of his journey in aphorisms, a journey through the holiness of humanity. "Bibles, legends, history are signposts: they are pointing to the future, not the past. Do not embrace the past or it will turn into an idol." Jesus was central to his experience, but not, in his words, "the official Jesus— but the Jesus who is calling you to liberty, to the breaking of all idols including the idol which he himself has become.""

"If any church could come to holding Sydney's allegiance, it was the Society of Friends, with its rejection of dogma, and its reliance on personal experience and social activism, and its affirmation of God's presence in every human being."

"Carter's openness to religious truth makes talks of religious categories rather superfluous, which was indeed a major irritation for the early critics of the open-minded, non-credal statements of his songs. That two of his most popular lyrics, "One More Step" and "Travel On", should invoke the concept of journey was indeed no coincidence. In this voyaging faith of interrogatives, the creed lay in the question mark, often of a Zen-like paradox."

"The optimistic lines "I danced in the morning when the world begun and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun" also contain a hint of paganism which, mixed with Christianity, makes it attractive to those of ambiguous religious beliefs or none at all. Carter himself genially admitted that he had been partly inspired by the statue of Shiva which sat on his desk; and, whenever he was asked to resolve the contradiction, he would declare that he had never tried to do so. However, he admitted to being as astonished as anyone by its success. "I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian. But in fact people did sing it and, unknown to me, it touched a chord. . . "Anyway," Carter would continue, "it's the sort of Christianity I believe in.""

"All shall be well, I'm telling you, let the winter come and go All shall be well again, I know."

"Love, like the yellow daffodil, is Lord of all I know."

"Loud are the bells of Norwich and the people come and go. Here by the tower of Julian, I tell them what I know."

"There's an ocean of darkness and I drown in the night till I come through the darkness to the ocean of light, for the light is forever and the light it is free, "And I walk in the glory of the light," said he."

"If we give you a pistol, will you fight for the Lord?" "But you can't kill the Devil with a gun or a sword!" "Will you swear on the Bible?" "I will not!" said he, "For the truth is more holy than the book, to me."

"With a book and a steeple, with a bell and a key they would bind it forever, but they can't," said he. "Oh, the book it will perish and the steeple will fall, but the light will be shining at the end of it all."

"There's a light that is shining in the heart of a man, it's the light that was shining when the world began. There's a light that is shining in the Turk and the Jew and a light that is shining, friend, in me and in you."

"Wherever you travel I'll be there, I'll be there Wherever you travel, I'll be there And the creed and the colour And the name won't matter I'll be there."

"I was hungry and thirsty Were you there, were you there? I was hungry and thirsty, were you there? And the creed and the colour And the name won't matter Were you there?"

"When I needed a neighbour Were you there, were you there? When I needed a neighbour, were you there? And the creed and the colour And the name won't matter Were you there?"

"They cut me down And I leapt up high; I am the life That'll never, never die; I'll live in you If you'll live in me — I am the Lord Of the Dance, said he."

"They buried my body And they thought I'd gone, But I am the Dance, And I still go on."

"I danced on the Sabbath And I cured the lame; The holy people Said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped And they hung me on high, And they left me there On a Cross to die."

"Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he."

"I danced in the morning When the world was begun, And I danced in the moon And the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven And I danced on the earth, At Bethlehem I had my birth."

"Coming and going by the dance, I see That what I am not is a part of me. Dancing is all that I can ever trust, The dance is all I am, the rest is dust. I will believe my bones and live by what Will go on dancing when my bones are not."

"Faith is more basic than language or theology. Faith is the response to something which is calling us from the timeless part of our reality. Faith may be encouraged by what has happened in the past, or what is thought to have happened in the past, but the only proof of it is in the future. Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on. Even though (because it rejects a doctrine) it is now described as "doubt". This, I believe, is the kind of faith that Christ commended."

"There are obvious problems with so many denominations in schools today, but I had collective worship at school and I do not think it is a bad thing."

"They are songs which can be sung in a Christian context, but they all had to mean something to me because I was often on the edge of not believing. The songs certainly have not made my fortune, but I am still grateful for the royalties when they come in."

"I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus. Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did. The Shakers didn't..."

"Teach the crippled how to leap, Throw their crutches on a heap, Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down. Rock, love, carry it away, Lift the world up by your levity, Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down."

"Come holy harlequin! Shake the world and shock the hypocrite Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down. Let the feast of love begin, Let the hungry all come in, Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down."

"Your holy hearsay is not evidence. Give me the good news in the present tense. What happened nineteen hundred years ago May not have happened. How am I to know? So shut your Bibles up and show me how The Christ you talk about Is living now."

"So what do you believe in? Nothing fixed or final, all the while I travel a miracle. I doubt, and yet I walk upon the water."

"This Sam. Butler, who was a boon and witty Companion, especially among the Company he knew well."

"He is of a middle stature, strong sett, high coloured, a head of sorrell haire, a severe and sound judgement: a good fellowe."

"With books and money plac'd for show Like nest-eggs to make clients lay, And for his false opinion pay."

"He that complies against his will. Is of his own opinion still."

"For those that fly may fight again, Which he can never do that's slain."

"We idly sit, like stupid blockheads, Our hands committed to our pockets, And nothing but our tongues at large, To get the wretches a discharge: Like men condemn'd to thunder-bolts, Who, ere the blow, become mere dolts; Or fools besotted with their crimes, That know not how to shift betimes, And neither have the hearts to stay, Nor wit enough to run away."

"But still his tongue ran on, the less Of weight it bore, with greater ease."

"True as the dial to the sun, Although it be not shin'd upon."

"With crosses, relics, crucifixes, Beads, pictures, rosaries, and pixes,— The tools of working our salvation By mere mechanic operation."

"Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick, Though he gave his name to our Old Nick."

"'Cause grace and virtue are within Prohibited degrees of kin; And therefore no true saint allows They shall be suffer'd to espouse."

"The hollow-hearted, disaffected, And close malignant are detected ; Who lay their lives and fortunes down, For pledges to secure our own."

"What makes all doctrines plain and clear? About two hundred pounds a year. And that which was prov'd true before Prove false again? Two hundred more."

"Still amorous and fond and billing, Like Philip and Mary on a shilling."

"As men of inward light are wont To turn their optics in upon 't."

"But Hudibras gave him a twitch As quick as lightning in the breech, Just in the place where honour's lodg'd, As wise philosophers have judg'd; Because a kick in that part more Hurts honour than deep wounds before."

"There 's but the twinkling of a star Between a man of peace and war."

"To swallow gudgeons ere they 're catch'd, And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd."

"Each window like a pill'ry appears, With heads thrust thro' nail'd by the ears."