Solzhenitsyn battles illness to complete final volumes (greatest living author of freedom)

Guardian.co.UK ^ | April 6, 2008 | The Observer

[Alex Murphy]

How easy for me to live with You, O Lord!
How easy for me to believe in You!
When my mind parts in bewilderment
or falters,
when the most intellegent people see no further
than this day's end
and do not know what must be done tomorrow,
You grant me the serene certitude
that You exist and that You will take care
that not all the paths of good be closed.
Atop the ridge of earthly fame,
I look back in wonder at the path
which I alone could have never found,
a wonderous path through despair to this point
from which I, too, could transmit to mankind
a reflection of Your rays.
And as much as I must still reflect
You will give me.
But as much as I cannot take up
You will have already assigned to others.

"Prayer", from Solzhenitsyn's Pictorial Autobiography

[eleni121]

Alex...this prayer is sublime! Thank you much for reminding us.

[flowerplough]

Yeah, and those last three letters ‘ndr’ would be hell to pronounce without a vowel ion between ‘em!

Think that's how he, himself, spells it when using our alphabet, and his pronunciation of that particular spelling would've been good enough for any son of mine, I reckon.

[eleni121]

TPartyType: Thanks for putting up the sound file.

Here is a written version of his magnificent speech.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/harvard1978.html

[elhombrelibre]

He is a great man, a great writer, and one of the few intellectuals who changed the world for the better and will be remembered for hundreds of years long after the pipsqueaks of this era are gone.

[Honorary Serb]

Bump!!!!