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The Donne poem is a part of his Meditation 17. Here is another part of that Meditation, which to me seems fitting at this point: "all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice"

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Perfect. Thanks Paúl!

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Jul 28Liked by Simon Haisell

The video of the battle was very helpful Simon. Thanks for that.

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Jul 28Liked by Simon Haisell

“Life will do this to you, often without warning or wanting; you'll live forever in a moment.” Love this, thanks, Simon🥰

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Borodin for the next 20 chapters!! I'm not sure I can cope with that. I just today finished the last few pages of Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, which I could barely bring myself to read. It's all getting a bit heavy.

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I've heard Prophet Song is heavy going. At least here we have the lightness of Tolstoy to see us through.

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Jul 30Liked by Simon Haisell

I finished Prophet Song last month. It was brilliantly done, but I dreaded picking it up. I am still ruminating over a lot of it.

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I'm the same. It will be a long time before I forget it, if ever.

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‘For the last 800 pages, time has moved faster in the book: seven years in seven months.

But now time slows. We will spend the next twenty chapters in two days of 1812.’

Wow - that brings perspective to matters.

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