“Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
– Edgar Allen Poe “The Raven”
One of the most fascinating classes I took during my Master’s degree was on the history and skill of storytelling. In the practicum of the class we were tasked with taking a piece of literature and deciphering it thought recitation. I found this a beautiful form of communication (little did I know it would become one of the central skills of my life) and decided to take Poe’s The Raven as my piece. Twenty years later while I am far from retaining the whole poem memorized (as opposed to The Walrus and the Carpenter which will be forever lodged in my long-term memory), still the themes and verses of this macabre rhyme sticks with me and manifests itself at the most curious times.
As it has this morning during my prayer time.
For those who haven’t studied this poem, it speaks of regret, sadness and a lonely man’s search for the hope to carry on after losing the one true love of his life, Lanore. Instead of heaven sending him hope to continue his journey on this earth, hell sends a messenger of despair to taunt him. It’s a heartbreaking account of a lost soul bound in an eternity of despair.
Nice, eh?
At first he is fearful and then curious of a late-night visitor knocking at his door. When he finally gains the courage to answer, making apologies for his fright-inspired tardiness, he notices the hall empty. His mind goes to his deceased love and the possibility of being haunted. Suddenly, there is a knock at his window. He remains fearful, but his curiosity gets the best of him. When he opens the window to discover the roots of this mystery, a raven hops in his room and flies over the the statue of the greek god Pallas above his door. At first he is amused and curious of this strange visitor, then fascinated that it can speak! His curiosity is over the single word it mutters in all clarity… “Nevermore”.
However, as it insists on saying this word repeatedly, the protagonist starts to put dark connotations to his strange visitor’s intention. He ascribes to it a curse that his eternity will be void of any escape from the loss of hope he has now. He begs for freedom from the symbol of grim despair, but is given none. He is to remain in the prison of his despair to be released “Nevermore”.
I have known what that feels like!
The visitor from the “night’s Plutionian shore” has come as a raven to sit upon the bust of Pallas to speak of the loss of hope to my soul. The night’s Plutionian shore is speaking of Pluto, Roman god of the underworld, an allusions of death, darkness and despair. The raven, an ominous omen of sorrow (“Prophet” he calls it) decided to take a podium above the statue of the greek God Palla, the symbol of would-be wisdom.
This is all an illusion of hope lost. This is all an illusion of a life void of God’s grace.
The protagonist hoped for a messenger from heaven to offer hope. Instead he got a messenger from hell to promise the opposite. But here’s the thing… messengers from hell lie.
That’s what they do. That is their art and their medium. That is there mother tongue. The Word of God speaks of the devil going around like a roaring lion seeking to kill, steal and destroy. This poem speaks of such a victim and my heart reflects times this has been my would-be fate.
I remember crying out to heaven, “Does anyone care at all? Would anyone miss me if I just killed myself? Does anyone love me?”
And in the stillness of that night’s Plutonian shore came a still-small voice from a distant land that simply said, “I would”
It was an invitation to leave that cursed lands with it’s eternal darkness, that field called, “Saday Chadel” and follow hope to a greater Kingdom. It was a divine messenger, and remember, that which is divine is always going to lead to a brighter land.
I answered that call for hope, which was found in Christ alone. It wasn’t the end of my troubles, but it was the end of my hopelessness. The wisdom of hell wished us to listen to the prophet of doom in our heads that speaks of eternal loss, but do not believe it. While it speaks to us of half-truths and distorted realities, we must remember that it speaks in it’s mother tongue. It would say there is only the raven speaking “nevermore”. But there is another…
There is a Messiah
And there is no night’s Plutonian shore so forsaken that He cannot reach you. There is no curse so deep in your heart and hearth that He can’t bring redemption. There is no despair so dark that he can’t bring life. It’s is not the wisdom of man, nor the wisdom of a cheaper, lesser god. It is the wisdom of the creator of life Himself and it’s only a breath away.
And it can be yours forevermore!
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