Fourth Sunday of Advent


From the Advent portion of W.H. Auden's, “For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio”:

IV
RECITATIVE

If the muscle can feel repugnance, there is still a false move
                                                                              to be made;
If the mind can imagine tomorrow, there is still a defeat
                                                                              to remember;
As long as the self can say "I," it is impossible not to rebel;
As long as there is an accidental virtue, there is a necessary vice:
And the garden cannot exist, the miracle cannot occur.

For the garden is the only place there is, but you will not find it
Until you have looked for it everywhere and found nowhere that is
                                                                               not a desert;
The miracle is the only thing that happens, but to you it will not
                                                                               be apparent,
Until all events have been studied and nothing happens that you
                                                                              cannot explain;
And life is the destiny you are bound to refuse until you have
                                                                               consented to die.

Therefore, see without looking, hear without listening, breathe
                                                                              without asking:
The Inevitable is what will seem to happen to you purely by chance;
The Real is what will strike you as really absurd;
Unless you are certain you are dreaming, it is certainly a dream
                                                                              of your own;
Unless you exclaim -- "There must be some mistake" -- you must
                                                                              be mistaken.

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