 Kenneth
Joseph Mortimer
I-Biography:
Kenneth Joseph MORTIMER was born in Chile of English parents in
1926 and was brought up in London. He claims some Lebanese blood
as his father was born in Malta of a Maltese mother (the Maltese
are Phoenicians from Carthage.) He did his military service in the
Middle East, acquiring a passion for it, studied philosophy and
theology in seminaries in England and Holland and then spent a year
in France and Malta recovering from poliomyelitis. He came to Lebanon
in 1954 and in 1957 married in Ras Baalbek. He has two sons and
a daughter and grandchildren. He now lives in Zouk Mikayel (P.O.Box
516), Kesrouan. Tel.& fax 09.214647. He has taught English and
for a time judo, and also done some broadcasting. He does translation
from French and occasionally Arabic and edits NDUSpirit (Notre Dame
University, Louaizeh.) Judo 3-Dan 1985, karate 1- 2-Dan Japanese
Karate Assoc. 1999.
About the time of Vatican Council II, Mr.Mortimer wrote articles
in the American Catholic World about the relations between Rome
and the Eastern Churches, one of which was translated for Le Lien
by order of the Greek Catholic patriarch. He wrote in Palma (N.D.University)
about yoga, zen and the martial arts in relation to Christian spirituality.
He contributed to the Rihani Conference, St.Joseph's, Cornet Shehwan,
Sept. 1999. Very interested in nature and evolution since childhood.
As a result of a varied background, very different social groups
he has lived in, and different interests, Mr. Mortimer is an eclectic,
welding Byzantine spirituality, art, evolution and nature, martial
arts, etc. into one common view of life. He passed from the Latin
to the Greek rite in 1957 and acquired Lebanese nationality in 1982.
He notices that whereas Byzantine and Russian iconographers used
rhythmic line as a formal artistic element to show the incorporation
of the saints as members of Christ's Mystical Body into the timeless
life of the Blessed Trinity, the painter Joseph Matar achieves the
same effect by brilliant brushwork. This comes at a time when western
art has concentrated on technique as an end in itself without any
meaning, as the artists have no spiritual message full of hope to
give.
II-Poetry:
On reading a modern poem about Jibran Khalil Jibran and Lebanon:
Advanced in years, I am a man
once bred on verse whose lines all scan.
I rhyme in lines of iambic feet
that fall into a rhythm neat;
and so it is my heart still beats
to Macaulay and to Keats.
Chesterton and Thomas Gray
in my classroom hours held sway,
and on the shelves that filled my home
I found the Lays of Ancient Rome.
I heard the beat of trireme oars
whose white wings dipped near Cretan shores.
Fleet dryads ran through sunlit vales,
and danced entranced to panpipe scales,
while nyads rose up bronzed and gleaming
from river water down them streaming.
So to this classic shore I came
to hear the tunes of ancient fame.
But concrete blights Phoenicia's strand,
two sooty factory chimneys stand;
Gibran would find if now he spoke
he'd soon be coughing from the smoke.
K.J.M. NDU Spirit July 1988 copyright
1998, the New Campus, honouring the promoters of Notre Dame University,
Louaizeh, Kesrouan
Look on the moujntain by the shore,
shaken by the tractor's roar.
Gone the dragon from our coast,
gone the mythic hero's boast.
New monsters crawl with iron tread
and move the earth in giant spread.
Long arms of steel from wheeling tower
vie with Hercules in power;
That king of Tyre would stand amazed
to see the burdens that they raised.
They labour hard for NDU
and build for it a campus new.
A bishop's vision crowns the height
with spacious halls of gleaming white.
Two presidents have shared his zeal
till now this year has set its seal
Another building nearby tells
of monks at prayer in their cells;
with fire from heaven they ignite
the torch of learning to burn bright,
where holy truth from heaven came
to make it gleam with purer flame.
Now students strive with honest toil,
burning late the midnight oil.
But not alone for sordid gain,
for they must have a higher aim;
refinement of the heart and mind
with culture of a nobler kind,
as taught by ancient Rome and Greece
and Chinese scholars in the East.
But mandarin and stoic stern
for themselves alone did learn;
to keep their learning pure and fine
they cast not pearls before the swine.
But for himself no man should live,
each scholar has a store to give.
He has to learn to take the cross
and not fear mere earthly loss,
that all may see in him reflected
God's love for man and be affected.
So let example loudly speak
to those who higher wisdom seek.
Thus when we watch that hilltop scene
with all its busy workers keen,
To NDU we give ovation,
remembering its true vocation.
K.J.M. NDU Spirit July, 1998
copyright
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Some of the artist's articles
Other
Articles by K.J. Mortimer:
For
St. Valentine's - A History of Love
Teaching Good English
English, soon an extinct language – It is
being murdered!
To keep the faith – Home is not enough!
Reading
Keats
On
reading a modern poem about Gibran and Lebanon
Manners maketh the man
Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909)
Geoffrey Chaucer is a poet
I feel to be really modern
Contact: kmortimer@ndu.edu.lb
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