Friday, August 21, 2009

Praxis of evil

"In the Old Colony days, in Plymouth the land of the Pilgrims,
To and fro in a room of his simple and primitive dwelling,
Clad in doublet and hose, and boots of Cordovan leather,
Strode, with a martial air, Miles Standish the Puritan Captain.

Near him was seated John Alden, his friend and household companion,
Writing with diligent speed at a table of pine by the window;
Fair-haired, azure-eyed with delicate Saxon complexion.

Mute and amazed was Alden; and listened and looked at Priscilla,
Thinking he never had seen her more fair, more divine in her beauty.
He who but yesterday pleaded so glibly the cause of another,
Stood there embarrassed and silent, and seeking in vain for answer.

This was the wedding morn of Priscilla the Puritan maiden.

Meanwhile the bridegroom went forth and stood with the bride at the doorway,
Breathing the perfumed air of that warm and beautiful morning.
Touched with autumnal tints, but lonely and sad in the sunshine.

Love immortal and young in the endless succession of lovers.
So through the Plymouth woods passed onward the bridal procession."

And so the purity of marriage (with 6 accents to each line of blank verse) is honored by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his "Courtship of Miles Standish." But what about the ‘praxis of evil,’ practical revolutionary activity afoot in America today infiltrating every aspect of our lives? Would a Puritan ethic save us now?

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