Fearful Symmetry

When William Blake wrote his famous work 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience', he attempted to express his revelations about two opposing states within the human condition. As adoptive parents looking to travel across the globe, we are poising ourselves for a responsibility that feels excitingly massive, and yet also completely beyond any other aspiration we have ever dreamed of...

As far as I understand it, successful parenting must be fueled by love, selflessness, and for us, infused with faith. On the flip side of this pretty picture, this 'requisite for selfless love' seems a little easier to access when say, shopping for size 12-18 month pajama bottoms then when thinking about hauling and changing diapers amidst the Trans-Siberian tundra... I imagine at every state of parenthood, there must be some affirmation in experiencing one's relationship with their child. To us, it seems like this must coexist with the intimidation of not knowing how one's current decisions will impact the development of their pint-sized blessing? Anyway... In William Blake's poem 'The Tyger,' he too marvels at the creation and design of the mighty feline, all the while shuddering at its magnificence.


The Tyger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?