Sárospataki Füzetek 2. (1998)
1998 / 2. szám - Dr. Frank Sawyer: Star of the Nativity
■2)r. ,5ranl Salutier: \S>ti lar of [he flatu Christ as more real, that is, of eternal significance. He knew that he had to choose between the Star of the Nativity and the star of the Kremlin. The heaven on earth promised by the revolution was a heresy. Or as expressed in the novel, all deep passion (love) for life needs to be connected to the passion (suffering love) of Christ. In Star of the Nativity there are lines which describe the star of Bethlehem as almost a natural phenomenon among the things of this world, while yet emphasizing that the star and the Christ are a miracle among us. The emphasis on the graveyard is a way of saying that in this world we find death, in Christ’s coming we find life. Far off were fields covered over with snow. And a graveyard, and gravestones and fences, A cart with its shafts deep in a snowdrift And, over the graveyard, a star-studded sky. And seemingly near yet unseen until then, Its light more timorous than that of a tallow-dip Set in the window of some watchman’s hut, A star glimmered over the road to Bethlehem. Now it looked like a hayrick blazing Off to one side from heaven and God; Like the reflection of an arsonous fire, Like a farmstead in flames or a threshing floor burning. It reared in the sky like a fiery stack Of straw, of hay, In the midst of a Creation startled, astounded By this new Star. We notice that the star, that is Christ himself, comes from afar and at first is not seen (for who he is). But his coming soon blazes up like a great light and fire in the history of the world. All Creation is amazed to see God- with-us in this way. For those who know T.S.Eliot’s famous poem, Journey of the Magi, there are some interesting parallels and differences with Pasternak’s poem on the same topic. Eliot ends his poem emphasizing the great historical and cultural impact of the incarnation. One of the wisemen, telling the story of their journey many years later, says that he hardly knows if they went to see birth or death: 1 All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down 50
