: The Laws of God, The Laws of Man
From Last Poems by A.E.Houseman
XII
The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Not I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs.
Their deeds I judge and much condemn,
Yet when did I make laws for them?
Please yourselves, say I, and they
Need only look the other way.
But no, they will not; they must still
Wrest their neighbour to their will,
And make me dance as they desire
With jail and gallows and hell-fire.
And how am I to face the odds
Of man’s bedevilment and God’s?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.
They will be master, right or wrong;
Though both are foolish, both are strong,
And since, my soul, we cannot fly
To Saturn or Mercury,
Keep we must, if keep we can,
These foreign laws of God and man
A fascinating back story behind this poem. I’ll try to be brief, you can google many more details.
Houseman, born 1859, was an English professor of classical Latin literature. From a middle class family, he showed great academic promise and went to Oxford on a scholarship. At Oxford, he fell in love with his best friend Mo. Unfortunately for Houseman, when he finally confessed his love, Mo was straight and unable to reciprocate. Mo left England and, for the most part, cut off contact with Houseman; nonetheless Houseman seems to have carried a torch for Mo his entire life. In the meanwhile Houseman pursued his academic career, published papers, and became a professor of Latin.
In 1896, out of nowhere, Houseman published a book of poetry, A Shropshire Lad, and after a slow start the book became widely known. But after this, Houseman continued to pursue his academic career – and stated that he was through writing poetry.
But in the 1920s, he got word that Mo was dying of cancer. Houseman pulled together a second volume of poems for Mo. The poem above is from this second volume.
After that, Houseman never published poetry again during his lifetime, and instead became known as the foremost Latin scholar of his generation.
Houseman died in 1936. In 1997, the playwright Tom Stoppard wrote a play The Invention of Love about Houseman’s life & times. Many consider this to be Stoppard’s finest work.
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I was unaware of any of these details when I recently put the above poem to music for an assignment in my composition class. If you’re curious (and I know you are), you can hear at this link:
This performance is quite a departure for me to work with an opera singer. To my rock & roll ears, opera singers sound a bit weird, but Katrina (the singer) really put her whole heart into the song.
You may also notice that I took a few liberties with the words – especially at the very end. . . .
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April 1, Saturday, 9:00 PM-1:00 AM – Dave Rudbarg and Friends, at PJ Ryan’s Squared, 4 Path Plaza, Jersey City (201) 222-1600
Dave Rudbarg, vocalist extraordinaire, is a mainstay on the Metropolitan blues jam circuit. We have crossed paths many times, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had to be a part of his act. For this show, Dave has pulled together some monster players, including Dave Fields on guitar, Casual T (yes that’s his name) on drums, and Michael Muller on bass. I will be huffing and puffing to keep up with these guys. PJ Rayn’s Squared is right above the Journal Square Path station, so you New Yorkers have no excuse not to come on out and enjoy some fresh Jersey air..
April 14, Friday, 7:00-9:00 PM – With Arthur Neilson, at Ruthie’s Bar-B-Q & Pizza, 64 1/2 Chestnut Ave, Montclair (973) 509-1134
Many a moon has passed since the last time I played at Ruthie’s, so I’m looking forward to doing this guitar-piano duo with the amazing Arthur Neilson. In the absence of Arthur’s full “kick ass” band, Arthur & I will have to suffice with kicking only one butt cheek.
http://www.ruthiesbbq.com/
http://www.arthurneilson.com/