Read Poem: Unfading Beauty (and the devil), by Elijah Crouch

Epigraph and Introductory Thoughts:
The whole world is of images that surround us in a single field of signification. Every flower we
see is an expression, every landscape has a significance, every human or animal face speaks its
wordless language.
– Hans Urs von Balthasar, in Beauty for Truth’s Sake, 37.

All beauty portrays truth,
all truth is God’s truth ,and
all creation shows God’s glory.

Satan is a foreigner in this land, he does not fit.

I
I see fully flourishing creatures
overflowing with harmonious singing
stretching out to reach Him
glowing from the beginning.

Beauty breaking forth,
old prophesies blooming.
Sacred seeds flowering
in the fullness of time.

Geometrical shapes, symmetrical art,
symbolic numbers, all playing a part
of revealing divine Truth and
reflecting divine order,
the Logos centered world
with Beauty in every corner.

Every piece reflects His name,
every part declares His praise,
every place reveals His fame,
His glory cannot fade.

II
Now I see satan, the enemy of our souls,
prowling around to destroy,
whining as he goes.
He tries so hard to take
what’s good and make it bad,
to take the boundless Beauty,
and make it oh so drab.

(But look! Everything he tries fails.
What has he to be proud of? Nothing!
Let us laugh at him!)

He bumbles around, wearing a frown,
sure he’s smart, sometimes he’s scary,
but the beast behind the curtain
is really a mightless flea.

A bruised heel,
but a crushed head,
a whimpering dog,
waiting to be fed.
See his power? See his crown?
Of course you can’t,
they’re nowhere to be found.
He is chased around,
pummeled to the ground,
never to be renowned,
never to be unbound.

III
God’s glory is here to stay.
He’s set up a kingdom that will never fade.

Stay alert!
Watch, and pray.
For the day He comes,
and sin passes away.