Solid Folk

The dependable, the reliable, the solid folk, the glue that holds civilizations together, intact. ~g.w.

 

IN PRAISE OF SOLID PEOPLE

 

Thank God that there are solid folk

 

Who water flowers and roll the lawn,

 

And sit and sew and talk and smoke,

 

And snore all through the summer dawn.

 

Who pass untroubled nights and days

 

Full-fed and sleepily content,

 

Rejoicing in each other’s praise,

 

Respectable and innocent.

 

Who feel the things that all men feel,

 

And think in well-worn grooves of thought,

 

Whose honest spirits never reel

 

Before man’s mystery, overwrought.

 

O happy people! I have seen

 

No verse yet written in your praise,

 

And, truth to tell, the time has been

 

I would have scorned your easy ways.

 

Then I do envy solid folk

 

Who sit of evenings by the fire,

 

After their work and doze and smoke,

 

And are not fretted by desire.

 

 

 

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C.S. Lewis was a professor of Renaissance literature, a writer of fiction and nonfiction, a lay Christian theologian, having his own particular theology but always careful to stay within Christian orthodoxy. He was also a poet dating back to his days as a student at University College, Oxford.

I post this in honor of C.S. Lewis, the poet who loved Christ and people, who Christ also loves.

Here he honors the common folk of whom is said to be the glue that holds civilizations together, intact. ~g.w.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18

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From Spirits in Bondage

Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics. Copyright © 1919 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.