When readers first encounter Ash Wednesday, they are often surprised. It is not a triumphant hymn of certainty. It is the prayer of a soul learning to repent. That is precisely why it remains one of T. S. Eliot's greatest Christian poems. Having come to faith in Christ, Eliot discovered what every believer eventually learns: conversion is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning. The Christian life is a continual turning toward God.