
The moment of embalming: T. S. Eliot’s love letters – a report from the archive - apollinaire
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-moment-of-embalming/
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sdegutis
I just heard of T. S. Eliot for the first time very recently, when I
discovered this poem of his:

    
    
        It is hard for those who have never known persecution, 
        And who have never known a Christian, 
        To believe these tales of Christian persecution. 
        It is hard for those who live near a Bank 
        To doubt the security of their money. 
        It is hard for those who live near a Police Station 
        To believe in the triumph of violence. 
        Do you think that the Faith has conquered the World 
        And that lions no longer need keepers? 
        Do you need to be told that whatever has been, can still be? 
        Do you need to be told that even such modest attainments 
        As you can boast in the way of polite society 
        Will hardly survive the Faith to which they owe their significance? 
        Men! polish your teeth on rising and retiring; 
        Women! polish your fingernails: 
        You polish the tooth of the dog and the talon of the cat. 
        Why should men love the Church? Why should they love her laws? 
        She tells them of Life and Death, and of all that they would forget. 
        She is tender where they would be hard, and hard where they like to be soft. 
        She tells them of Evil and Sin, and other unpleasant facts. 
        They constantly try to escape 
        From the darkness outside and within 
        By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good. 
        But the man that is will shadow 
        The man that pretends to be. 
        And the Son of Man was not crucified once for all, 
        The blood of the martyrs not shed once for all, 
        The lives of the Saints not given once for all: 
        But the Son of Man is crucified always 
        And there shall be Martyrs and Saints. 
        And if blood of Martyrs is to flow on the steps 
        We must first build the steps; 
        And if the Temple is to be cast down 
        We must first build the Temple. 
        
        — T. S. Eliot

