"A Song for Simeon" is a 37-line poem written in 1928 by American- British poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). It is one of five poems that he contributed to the Ariel poems series of 38 illustrated pamphlets with holiday themes by several authors published by Faber and Gwyer and sent to the firm's clients and business acquaintances as Christmas greetings. Eliot had converted to Anglo-Catholicism in 1927 and his poetry, starting with the Ariel Poems (1927–31) and Ash Wednesday (1930), took on a decidedly religious character. The poem retells the story of Simeon from the Gospel of Luke. Simeon was a devout Jew told by the Holy Ghost that he would not die until he saw the Saviour of Israel. When he encounters Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus entering the Temple of Jerusalem, he sees in the infant the Messiah promised by the Lord and asks God to permit him to "depart in peace." Eliot's poem employs references to the Nunc dimittis, a Christian liturgical prayer for Compline, and literary allusions to earlier writers Lancelot Andrewes, Dante Alighieri and St. John of the Cross. Several critics have debated whether Eliot's depiction of Simeon is evidence of Eliot's anti- Semitism.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_for_Simeon

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1852:

The Argentine Confederation were defeated in the Platine War by an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos and Corrientes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platine_War

1870:

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

1959:

American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed when their plane crashed shortly after taking off from Mason City Municipal Airport in Iowa (wreckage pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

1967:

Ronald Ryan became the last person to be legally executed in Australia, sparking public protests across the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Ryan

2010:

A cast of L'Homme qui marche I by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti sold for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting the record for most expensive sculpture sold at a public auction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Homme_qui_marche_I

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

proppant: Sand or similar particulate material suspended in water or other fluid and used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to keep fissures open. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/proppant

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

If a captive mind is unaware of being in prison, it is living in error. If it has recognized the fact, even for the tenth of a second, and then quickly forgotten it in order to avoid suffering, it is living in falsehood. Men of the most brilliant intelligence can be born, live and die in error and falsehood. In them, intelligence is neither a good, nor even an asset. The difference between more or less intelligent men is like the difference between criminals condemned to life imprisonment in smaller or larger cells. The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like a condemned man who is proud of his large cell.   --Simone Weil https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil