Continue to be and do not to perish: Poet T.E. Hulme and Learning to Abide
The Embankment
By T. E. Hulme
Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,
In the flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.
Now see I
That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy.
Oh, God, make small
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.
After reading this poem by T.E. Hulme, the Greek word “meno” came to mind.
What a great word.
In the Bible ‘meno,’ A root word which occurs 120 times, is translated as “abide” 61 times, “remain” 16 times, “dwell” 15 times, “continue” 11 times, “tarry” nine times, “endure” three times, and is miscellaneously translated five times.
I find these definitions helpful:
1 to remain, abide. 1a in reference to place. 1a1 to sojourn, tarry. 1a2 not to depart. 1a2a to continue to be present. 1a2b to be held, kept, continually. 1b in reference to time. 1b1 to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure. 1b1a of persons, to survive, live. 1c in reference to state or condition. 1c1 to remain as one, not to become another or different. 2 to wait for, await one.
In John 15:4 for instance, Jesus tells his disciples to “Abide in me, and I in you.” It seems like Jesus is simply saying this: “live and rest in me, and become one with me.” The evocotive imagary of the poem above captures this concept well I think. Curling up and wrapping the sky around you like a warm blanket is exactally what Jesus seems to be getting at: Rest in me. Continue to be and do not to perish.
Abide.
…
Photograph above by Sébastien Brodeur
What is amazing to me is he says ',and I in you.' His meno