In
case you missed the famous Tennyson quote from Morte d'Arthur, here it
is:
And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
The
O:E was what it was for just a brief moment in history.
One
could say that the Mystery took it out of being when its brief moment yielded
to something new.
The
spirit warriors who survive to this day remember that historical moment with
awe and reverence as a turning point in human consciousness, and (at whatever
personal cost) are among the privileged company that was called to
participate.
Quoting
Shakespeare's King Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt (1415),
We few, we happy few, we band
of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds
his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not
here,
And hold their manhoods
cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's
day.
Marshall
I was
privileged to have a great English teacher in high school, BTW. She's long
gone, but her influence was profound and her memory is cherished by her
students to this day.