"Remember thou art dust and unto dust thou shall return..."

[sandyRoe]

Do these dreadful words not at least send a frisson of foreboding through the stoutest of sceptics here in R&S on this, Ash Wednesday?

[woofgang]

I am a believer, I don't fear death.

[woofgang]

And Death Shall Have No Dominion



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  And death shall have no dominion.
Dead mean naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.


Dylan Thomas

[woofgang]

Stevie Smith - Scorpion

'This night shall thy soul be required of thee'
My Soul is never required of me
It always has to be somebody else of course
Will my soul be required of me tonight perhaps?

(I often wonder what it will be like
To have one's soul required of one
But all I can think of is the Out-Patients' Department -
'Are you Mrs. Briggs, dear?'
No, I am Scorpion.)

I should like my soul to be required of me, so as
To waft over grass till it comes to the blue sea
I am very fond of grass, I always have been, but there must
Be no cow, person or house to be seen.

Sea and grass must be quite empty
Other souls can find somewhere else.

O Lord God please come
And require the soul of thy Scorpion

Scorpion so wishes to be gone.

[woofgang]

Sorry for the carp cut and paste on the first one

[LazyGun]

I see no dread in those words Sandy. Nor do I have any foreboding, nor do I feel guilted into repenting.

[naomi24]

//Do these dreadful words not at least send a frisson of foreboding through the stoutest of sceptics here in R&S//

Why do you ask?

[sandyRoe]

"Why do you ask?"
I think there'd be some kudos for me when I stand in front of the judgement throne, if I could point to an repentant agnostic saved and say: I nudged this poor benighted sinner back onto the straight and narrow path.
If this doesn't put the fear of God into someone I'm going to give it up as a bad job and limit my AB work to trying to help with Xword answers.

[naomi24]

No, that won't wash with God, Sandy. He'll know you've done it for selfish reasons.

Helping with crosswords might though. ;o)

[sandyRoe]

I'm not even in the first eleven of the crossword helpers here in AB. And I clearly can't save even a single soul.
Failure and disappointment seems to be my lot. Sigh...

[Graham-W]

"Remember thou art dust and unto dust thou shall return..."
I seem to remember reading that in a work of fiction somewhere. I treat it the same as any other work of fiction I have read.

[woofgang]

but Graham, it is factually accurate.
http://www.physicscen...e/poster-stardust.cfm

and all of us either rot down or are burned to ash.

[naomi24]

//I'm not even in the first eleven of the crossword helpers here in AB. //

Remember Sandy .... the first shall be last. There's hope for you yet. ;o)

[Graham-W]

Thanks, Wolfgang. I see now that it is true. I've seen the light.

[lcg]

no. i know that anyway - the only certain thing in life are death and taxes - and you don't need to read the bible to figure that out. or anything else, for that matter.

[sandyRoe]

http://www.theanswerb...Question1108698.html/
Perhaps I've missed my calling. Helping with crossword clues has its rewards too.

[Old_Geezer]

I am not just dust; I am STARDUST !

[naomi24]

There you go! Sorted! :o)

[lcg]

as for thinking you would get kudos upstairs for preaching - how self-righteous and non-altruistic of you. neither quality will impress the man upstairs, if that's what you think. and that's also the problem with most believers - they almost always get it wrong.

[RATTER15]

>>Do these dreadful words not at least send a frisson of foreboding through the stoutest of sceptics here in R&S on this, Ash Wednesday? <<

Not in the least!!

silly nonsense!

[naomi24]

OG, show-off! ;o)