Glow worms

Almighty and most merciful Father,
we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires
of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;
and we have done those things which we ought not to have done;
and there is no health in us.

My love of this text stems from my Anglican upbringing. I never believed a word of it — ever — but i loved the music and i loved the language then as i still love it now. Wilfrid Owen obviously loved it too. Lines 5 and 6 in particular must have impressed themselves on Eliot, but that point has presumably been well made before. Perhaps one reason why i like The Waste Land is that the language sometimes reminds me of the Book of Common Prayer. I once set The Song Of The Third Thames Maiden to music—it's a study in octatonic harmony and the mp3 file is here

And there is no health in us. ``We are, of course—all of us—worms'' Churchill is supposed to have said ``but I like to think that I might be a glow-worm''.

I think I'd settle for being a glow-worm.

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