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It would be very flattering if someone were to opine that my writing, at times, is eloquent.

Or, to say that my writing, or speaking skills, were exceptionally good.

Well, candor compels me to say, quite simply, that such really isn’t so. When compared to and with those truly special talents a very few possess, my capabilities in this regard are neither significant or praise-worthy. Hardly.

However, I am capable of recognizing special communications, language uses skills, both written and spoken. Oh, yes.

All of which brings me to the intent of today’s column writing endeavor, and that is to share with you some, just a very few, examples of genuine eloquence.

See if you agree with me.

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”

Now, that’s the real deal. The prophet Amos could really turn a phrase, and Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized this, giving attribution where attribution was due.

From the Book of Common Prayer one finds – certainly I do – genuine eloquence in true didactic prose. 

“Oh, Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.

“Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.”

Consider this, also, which I shared with you not so very long ago: 

“She danced among the pale wings of mayflies, fluttering above the bright moon-mud.” Talk about imagery!

Think on this:

“The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one; Yet the light of the bright world dies/With the dying sun.

“The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one; Yet the light of a whole life dies/When love is done.”

So let me close with the last – the immortal – lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Day is Done.” 

“And the night shall be filled with music/And the cares, that infest the day/Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.”

My real gift, I suppose, is that while I don’t possess such talents, I can truly appreciate those who do.

And this has enriched my life.

I am grateful.