Charles Williams, Easter / Wielkanoc

Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection in a mosaic in Westminster Cathedral.

What great Apostle

When the Christ rose

Met with Him secretly

in the garden close?

Fast ran Saint Peter,

Fast ran Saint John,

When they heard the rumour,

But the Lord was gone.

Only in the morning

He was early seen

By a weeping spirit,

Mary Magdalene.

Once in a glory

To my heart He came,

Born by a maiden,

With Love for His name!

But what bitter passion

On myself for tree

Has his bounty suffered;

How deep in me,

Silent, unmanifest,

Hiding His power

During time and times

Waits He his hour.

High imaginations,

Wait, sad and still.

Till a sudden rumour

Your desire fulfill.

But, o blessed Magdalene,

When the first down

Shines across my spirit

From that garden lawn,

Watch with me, speak with me,

Blind me with tears,

When angels fall silent

And Himself appears.

***

Który Wielki Apostoł,

Gdy Chrystus zmartwychwstał

Potajemnie Go spotkał

W ogrodzie ukrytym?

Szybko Piotr pobiegł,

Szybko pobiegł Jan,

Gdy wieść posłyszeli,

Lecz już odszedł Pan.

Tylko o poranku

Wcześnie był widziany

Przez Marii Magdaleny

Duszę zapłakaną.

Raz w pełnej chwale

Do mego serca wkroczył

Z Panny zrodzony,

Nazwany Miłością!

Lecz jak gorzką mękę

Na mnie, jak na Drzewie,

Jego szczodrość cierpiała;

Jak głęboko we mnie

Cichy, niedostrzegalny,

Moc swoją zataił,

Cały czas, po wsze czasy

Na godzinę czekając.

Wzniosłe wyobrażenia,

Trwajcie w smutku, ciszy,

Aż wasze pragnienie

Nagła wieść roziskrzy.

Lecz ty, Magdaleno

Błogosławiona, gdy brzask

Duszę mą opromieni,

Co w ogrodzie wstał,

Czuwaj ze mną, mów ze mną,

Zasnuj mi oczy łzami,

Gdy zamilkną anioły

I Sam Pan się zjawi.

Williams: The place of the lion

He looked up at the sky and the strong afternoon sun - in that at least there was as yet no change. High above him some winged thing went through the air; he could not tell what it was but he felt comforted to see it. He was not entirely alone, it seemed; the pure balance of that distant flight entered into him as if it had been salvation. It was incredible that life should sustain itself by such equipoise, so lightly, so dangerously, but it did, and darted onward to its purpose so.

Charles Williams, The place of the lion.

Charles Williams, War in Heaven

Cytat z "War in Heaven" Charlesa Williamsa - jego charakterystyczny, paradoksalny styl. Opis okolicy, w której znajdowała się pewna podejrzana apteka.

It was not actually quite so respectable as Sir Giles had given him to understand. It had been once, no doubt, and was now half-way to another kind of respectability, being in the disreputable valley between two heights of decency. There were a sufficient number of sufficiently dirty children playing in the road to destroy privacy without achieving publicity: squalor was leering from the windows and not yet contending frankly and vainly with grossness. It was one of those sudden terraces of slime which hang over the pit of hell, and for which beastliness is too dignified a name. But the slime was still only oozing over it, and a thin cloud of musty pretence expanded over the depths below.   

One must continually build an altar and then (nine to one) the fire from heaven will come down somewhere else. I have written somewhere that that was what was wrong with Cain; he too much expected the fire on his own. The Kingdom demands not only virtues but a courtesy in virtue, a lightness of touch, style. Humility? I suppose it is simply humility, but the poor word is so heavy nowadays.

Charles Williams, Letter to Miss Lang-Sims, 20 Sept. 1943

Człowiek powinien wciąż budować oltarz i wówczas (dziewięć do jednego) ogień z nieba zejdzie gdzie indziej. Napisałem gdzieś, bo właśnie z tym miał problem Kain: zbytnio liczył na ogień na własnym ołtarzu. A Królestwo żąda nie tylko cnót, lecz wytworności w cnocie, lekkiego kroku, stylu. Czy pokory? Myślę, że to pokora, ale biedne słowo obecnie jest nieco przyciężkie.