God's finger touched him, and he slept.
Interpretation
The quote suggests a divine or peaceful end to life, implying comfort in death.
In this quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson, the phrase 'God's finger touched him' metaphorically portrays death as a gentle act of divine grace, suggesting that the transition from life to death is not to be feared, but rather embraced as a peaceful sleep. It reflects the idea that there is a higher power involved in the end of life, offering solace and comfort to those who grieve, reaffirming the notion of eternal rest and the cycle of existence.
In practice
In a eulogy, you might say: 'As Tennyson beautifully put it, 'God's finger touched him, and he slept,' reminding us of the peace in passing.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
I like being boring to a certain extent. I don't have to be flashy. I get to put all of that into a show, and when it's over, I don't have to be that.
I don't think you should have to try to be nice, I think most people are nice. I think being cheerful and nice is just a politeness.
She learned the intricacy of loneliness: the horror of color, the roar of soundlessness and the menace of familiar objects lying still.
We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.
We have for too long been taught that the sight of a man speaking to himself is a sign of eccentricity or madness; we are no longer at all habituated to our own voices, except in conversation or from within the safety of a shouting crowd.
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.
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