AH, MY DEAR ANGRY LORD – The Vampire's Wife

I love this terse little poem by the English poet, orator, and priest, George Herbert about the contradictory nature of religious belief, its good and bad sides, and its joy and sorrow. There's nothing like a bit of hard religion on a Sunday morning!! Love Susie. x

Bitter-sweet

Ah my dear angry Lord,

Since thou dost love, yet strike;

Cast down, yet help afford;

Sure I will do the like.

I will complain, yet praise;

I will bewail, approve:

And all my sour-sweet days

I will lament, and love.

George Herbert

IN PRAISE OF MARILYNNE ROBINSON

I haven’t heard a sensible word from my husband all week as he finally gets around to reading Marilynne Robinson’s new book, Reading Genesis. ‘Oh God, you’ve got to read this, babe!’ he keeps saying. ‘Wow, you’ve got to read this!’ Meanwhile, I’m deep inside A Year in the Life of Wendy Whiteley by Ashleigh Wilson, which is having much the same effect. I’ve had a lovely time in Sydney, reading and swimming in the McIver’s Ladies Baths, Australia’s only rock pool dedicated to women and children. There is nothing quite as exhilarating as swimming in the rain, except perhaps watching Nick perform in the evenings at the State Theatre. Beautiful.

THE EXTRAORDINARY WENDY WHITELEY

My husband and I spent a lovely afternoon at Wendy Whiteley’s house, overlooking her amazing ‘secret garden’ in Lavender Bay in Sydney. Wendy and her husband, the renowned artist Brett Whiteley, set up their family home there in 1970 where they lived together for two decades. Brett painted many of his iconic Sydney Harbour pictures in the house. Brett was a defining influence on Nick as a young art student and musician living in Australia. It was a perfect day spent with an absolutely fascinating and powerful woman.

NO TEAR-FLOODS OR SIGH-TEMPESTS

In A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, the English poet, John Donne, likens his relationship with his wife, Mary, to a spiritual entanglement between two souls as he says farewell to her before he goes on a mission to Europe. I love the lines ‘let us melt and make no noise/no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move’. Beautiful!