Sacred Harp Singing

Famous quotes containing the words sacred, harp and/or singing:

    “For them it’s out-of-date and outmoded to perform miracles; teaching the people is too like hard work, interpreting the holy scriptures is for schoolmen and praying is a waste of time; to shed tears is weak and womanish, to be needy is degrading; to suffer defeat is a disgrace and hardly fitting for one who scarcely permits the greatest of kings to kiss the toes of his sacred feet; and finally, death is an unattractive prospect, and dying on a cross would be an ignominious end.”
    —Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)

    “God, who gave to him the lyre,
    Of all mortals the desire,
    For all breathing men’s behoof,
    Straitly charged him, “Sit aloof;”
    Annexed a warning, poets say,
    To the bright premium,—
    Ever, when twain together play,
    Shall the harp be dumb.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “I held a bayonet
    that was for the earth of your stomach.
    The belly button singing its puzzle.
    The intestines winding like the alpine roads.
    It was made to enter you
    as you have entered me....”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)