April 20, 2012

Star Teacher

Look at the sky, child.
That's Sirius (the Dog),
Orion (the Hunter),
There's the Plough.
That's how, according to our lights,
We know.
Now reach.
Isabelle Madeline Izod's father (pictured above, the one in the suit) gave an ego-less reading of this poem at his daughter's Christening last Saturday. It blew 'me' away also, as I watched from pew 2 on the right. I've never liked the traditional Anglican service about casting the Devil out of the (surely innocent) child - and if not then, when? This service was rewritten in the original spirit of 'suffer the children to come unto me' and said thanks for all things bright and beautiful and Isabelle in particular. Every birth is a miracle: this one especially so, and late in the day for the old man. All of this and much more came through the reading. And Helen - the Mum in the middle - really is as lovely as she looks. That baby's a lucky girl. But she deserves it.
Oh Death where is thy sting-a-ling!