They also serve . . .
I asked an attorney to sign a couple pleadings today as he was passing by my desk; they had been prepared by one of the associates for whom I work, who said we'd be filing them in federal court today. The attorney told me that he was still working on the related brief, and wasn't sure it would go out today, but that he'd get back to me.
"That's okay, I'll be here," I said as he walked away from my desk. "They also serve who only stand and wait."
And then it occurred to me: how many legal secretaries routinely quote Milton in their day-to-day working lives?
I looked up that particular sonnet, which I hadn't read in several years, although I do often quote that line. I had forgotten how closely it tracks a problem I have often thought and written about. Milton was speaking of his blindness, and I was speaking of writers block, but we both suffered from the same result, the gnawing feeling that God would call us to account for not using the talent He had given us. Given that Milton so clearly understood how I feel, I find the conclusion of the poem deeply comforting, which is probably why I have remembered it and quoted it so often.
Tell me a line of poetry (or perhaps a song lyric) you often quote to people in your daily life. What poem is it from, and why does it speak to you so strongly?
"That's okay, I'll be here," I said as he walked away from my desk. "They also serve who only stand and wait."
And then it occurred to me: how many legal secretaries routinely quote Milton in their day-to-day working lives?
I looked up that particular sonnet, which I hadn't read in several years, although I do often quote that line. I had forgotten how closely it tracks a problem I have often thought and written about. Milton was speaking of his blindness, and I was speaking of writers block, but we both suffered from the same result, the gnawing feeling that God would call us to account for not using the talent He had given us. Given that Milton so clearly understood how I feel, I find the conclusion of the poem deeply comforting, which is probably why I have remembered it and quoted it so often.
Tell me a line of poetry (or perhaps a song lyric) you often quote to people in your daily life. What poem is it from, and why does it speak to you so strongly?