<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">An attack on hippo-crisy (or perhaps hippo-cracy) in church & state?<br><br>When I used to do a poetry show on WEFT, Eliot was a favorite - the St. Louis boy who described himself in old age as having "a Catholic cast of mind, a Calvinist heritage, and a Puritanical temperament."<br><br>I recall my co-host reading this. But you've left off the first part of 'THE HIPPOPOTAMUS', which reads <br><i><br> "Similiter et omnes revereantur Diaconos, ut mandatum Jesu Christi; et Episcopum, ut Jesum Christum, existentem filium Patris; Presbyteros autem, ut concilium Dei et conjunctionem Apostolorum. Sine his Ecclesia non vocatur; de quibus suadeo vos sic habeo. --S. Ignatii Ad Trallianos. <br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> <br>"And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans."</i><br><br>(And similarly let all reverence the deacons as a commandment of Jesus Christ; and the bishop as Jesus Christ, the living son of the Father; and the presbyters as the council of God and the assembly of the apostles. Apart from these, the church is not called; concerning these things, I am persuaded we agree. --From St.Ignatius to the Trallians, ca. 180 AD. The last line is a quote from Paul [the apostle]; the Laodiceans are referred to elsewhere in the NT as lukewarm in faith…)<br><br>This poem was published in 1920 (& written when Eliot was rising 30) in a collection of wonderful things, including "Mr. Eliot's Sunday Morning Service":<br><br><i>Look, look, master, here comes two religions caterpillars.<br>The Jew of Malta.</i><div><br>Polyphiloprogenitive<br>The sapient sutlers of the Lord<br>Drift across the window-panes.<br>In the beginning was the Word.<br> <br>In the beginning was the Word.<br>Superfetation of to ev,<br>And at the mensual turn of time<br>Produced enervate Origen.<br> <br>A painter of the Umbrian school<br>Designed upon a gesso ground<br>The nimbus of the Baptized God.<br>The wilderness is cracked and browned<br> <br>But through the water pale and thin<br>Still shine the unoffending feet<br>And there above the painter set<br>The Father and the Paraclete.<br>. . . . .<br>The sable presbyters approach<br>The avenue of penitence;<br>The young are red and pustular<br>Clutching piaculative pence.<br> <br>Under the penitential gates<br>Sustained by staring Seraphim<br>Where the souls of the devout<br>Burn invisible and dim.<br> <br>Along the garden-wall the bees<br>With hairy bellies pass between<br>The staminate and pistilate,<br>Blest office of the epicene.<br> <br>Sweeney shifts from ham to ham<br>Stirring the water in his bath.<br>The masters of the subtle schools<br>Are controversial, polymath.<br><br><br><div><div>On Mar 14, 2013, at 3:46 PM, Michael Weissman <<a href="mailto:mbwmbwmbw@gmail.com">mbwmbwmbw@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><blockquote style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><blockquote><p><font size="+1">THE HIPPOPOTAMUS</font></p><p><b><i><font size="-1" face="Arial">by: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)</font></i></b></p>
</blockquote></blockquote><ul style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><ul><dl><dt><font size="+2"><img src="http://www.poetry-archive.com/t_pic.gif" width="22" height="25" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></font>HE broad-backed hippopotamus</dt>
<dt>Rests on his belly in the mud;</dt><dt>Although he seems so firm to us</dt><dt>He is merely flesh and blood.</dt><dt> </dt><dt>Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,</dt><dt>Susceptible to nervous shock;</dt><dt>While the True Church can never fail</dt>
<dt>For it is based upon a rock.</dt><dt> </dt><dt>The hippo's feeble steps may err</dt><dt>In compassing material ends,</dt><dt>While the True Church need never stir</dt><dt>To gather in its dividends.</dt><dt> </dt>
<dt>The 'potamus can never reach</dt><dt>The mango on the mango-tree;</dt><dt>But fruits of pomegranate and peach</dt><dt>Refresh the Church from over sea.</dt><dt> </dt><dt>At mating time the hippo's voice</dt><dt>
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,</dt><dt>But every week we hear rejoice</dt><dt>The Church, at being one with God.</dt><dt> </dt><dt>The hippopotamus's day</dt><dt>Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;</dt><dt>God works in a mysterious way--</dt>
<dt>The Church can sleep and feed at once.</dt><dt> </dt><dt>I saw the 'potamus take wing</dt><dt>Ascending from the damp savannas,</dt><dt>And quiring angels round him sing</dt><dt>The praise of God, in loud hosannas.</dt>
<dt> </dt><dt>Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean</dt><dt>And him shall heavenly arms enfold,</dt><dt>Among the saints he shall be seen</dt><dt>Performing on a harp of gold.</dt><dt> </dt><dt>He shall be washed as white as snow,</dt>
<dt>By all the martyr'd virgins kist,</dt><dt>While the True Church remains below</dt><dt>Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.</dt></dl></ul></ul></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>