Auden's "For The Time Being"
Every Christmas season I re-read Auden’s oratorio “For The Time Being.” “The Temptation of Joseph” has always especially moved me. If I were to become a Christian, this is the passage that would do it:
JOSEPH My shoes were shined, my pants were cleaned and pressed, And I was hurrying to meet My own true Love: But a great crowd grew and grew Till I could not push my way through, Because a star had fallen down the street; When they saw who I was, The police tried to do their best. CHORUS [off] Joseph, you have heard What Mary says occurred; Yes, it may be so. Is it likely? No. JOSEPH The bar was gay, the lighting well-designed, And I was sitting down to wait My own true Love: A voice I’d heard before, I think, Cried: “This is on the House. I drink To him who does not know it is too late;” When I asked for the time, Everyone was very kind. CHORUS [off] Mary may be pure, But, Joseph, are you sure? How is one to tell? Suppose, for instance. . . Well. . . JOSEPH Through cracks, up ladders, into waters deep, I squeezed, I climbed, I swam to save My own true Love: Under a dead apple tree I saw an ass; when it saw me It brayed; A hermit sat in the mouth of a cave: When I asked him the way, He pretended to be asleep. CHORUS [off] Maybe, maybe not. But, Joseph, you know what Your world, of course, will say About you anyway. JOSEPH Where are you, Father, where? Caught in the jealous trap Of an empty house I hear As I sit alone in the dark Everything, everything, The drip of the bathroom tap, The creak of the sofa spring, The wind in the air-shaft, all Making the same remark Stupidly, stupidly, Over and over again. Father, what have I done? Answer me. Father, how Can I answer the tactless wall Or the pompous furniture now? Answer them. . . GABRIEL No, you must. JOSEPH How then am I to know, Father, that you are just? Give me one reason. GABRIEL No. JOSEPH All I ask is one Important and elegant proof That what my Love had done Was really at your will And that your will is Love. GABRIEL No, you must believe; Be silent, and sit still. |
Lovely. I'd never seen this, Aaron, thanks for posting it.
Cheers, John |
Thanks for this.
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Glad you enjoyed this, gentles. Check out the whole work. Auden manages to make Herod sympathetic.
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