Amor Mundi, Christina Rossetti
Meditation
The glowing August weather tempts us to the easy downhill path. Rossetti’s poem personifies the slippery slope of slovenliness in the guise of an attractive invitation—we can walk a path that allows us to complete our journey always on the downhill, never with the hard work of an ascent. For many of us, these months have been one of hard work, a constant uphill. Correspondingly, the counsel of rest has often been the subject of meditation. But the easy path here is not the path of rest, but of avoidance. Amor mundi, the love of worldly things, posits disproportionate ease—the promise against all signals that we can love without working at it. What are the hard paths you’ve been avoiding, distracted by the velvet flowers? What signals are you ignoring? When does the cost-counting come too late? This downhill path is easy, but there’s no turning back.
Todd Breyfoglem Denver, Colorado
