Monday, April 25, 2011

"The God Whispers of Han Qing-jao" by Orson Scott Card

When I was a child, I thought
a god was dissapointed
whenever some distraction
interrupted my tracing of the lines
revealed in the grain of wood.
Now I know the gods expect
such interruptions,
for they know our frailty.
It is completion that surprises them.

When I follow the path of the gods
through the wood,
My eyes take every twisting
turn of the grain,
But my body moves, straight
along the planking,
So those who watch me see
that the path of the gods is straight
While I dwell in a world with
no straightness in it.

--Orson Scott Card



Orson Scott Card, favorite author for decades, whose books are part of my psyche now. This is from Xenocide, my favorite of his, even if The Worthing Saga is the one I reread over and over again.

2 comments:

  1. "So those who watch me see that the path of the gods is straight
    While I dwell in a world with no straightness in it."

    Perhaps a curious account of a deep thinking Saint. O.S.C. would make a good apologist.

    But for which side?

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  2. I read an interview once where he said that he got angry, accusatory letters from the strict religious and atheists alike, and that made him think he was doing something right.

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