For Whom the Bell Tolls

"No man is an island,

Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

 

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less,

As well as if a promontory were:

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were.

 

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee."

 

I mentioned that when this chapel opened in 1955 the main focus of the Mount Royal Hospital was geriatric care. This was, to be quite frank, a place where people came to die. But in a place like this, John Donne's great poem, "No Man is an Island", takes on its full meaning. Why should a society care for its most vulnerable citizens? Because in the end, every one of us is implicated in the life, care and death of everyone else. There is a river of life and death that runs deep through us all. Can you hear that bell? It tolls for thee.

 

Here is a fine reading of John Donne's great poem, "No Man is an Island": www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mfus7QCeWU

 

www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-donne

 

[Enlarge this shot to see a surprise visitor sitting atop the bell tower.]

Done