T.S. Eliot published his poem Ash Wednesday in 1930, after he had composed during his conversion to Anglicanism (in 1927). The theme is, fittingly, the soul in its journey to find God, with allusions to the world, the flesh, the devil, and, on the other side, Christ, Our Lady and Dante’s Purgatorio.
An excerpt, which evokes the mood of the beginning of our Lenten pilgrimage:
And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us.
…
This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.
Blessèd sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit
of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.
The reader may peruse the whole poem here.