Afternoon Sermon
May 23, 2011
(humid still, though less so)
Gospel:
By Edwin Arlington Robinson
a poet and Pulitzer Prize winner
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good Morning!” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine — we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.
Sermon:
Brothers and sisters, do not compare your majestic selves to others, you will always find souls more wretchid and wicked, more brilliant and beautiful. Be the hero of thy own life and act as a hero would. Do not harbor your sorrows. Do not bury your sins.