Friday, October 26

Heavy Summer Rain


Heavy Summer Rain
by Jane Kenyon

The grasses in the field have toppled,
and in places it seems that a large, now
absent, animal must have passed the night.
The hay will right itself if the day

turns dry. I miss you steadily, painfully.
None of your blustering entrances
or exits, doors swinging wildly
on their hinges, or your huge unconscious
sighs when you read something sad,
like Henry Adams’s letters from Japan,
where he traveled after Clover died.

Everything blooming bows down in the rain:
white irises, red peonies; and the poppies
with their black and secret centers
lie shattered on the lawn.

I Keep Looking


I Keep Looking

I keep looking
for the letter
that tells me
you love me.

It doesn't exist yet.

10.26.18
cls

Tuesday, October 9

The World Seems


"To give a blessing is to affirm, to say 'yes' to a person's Belovedness. A blessing touches the original goodness of the other and calls forth his or her Belovedness." --Henri Nouwen

The World Seems
by Gregory Orr

The world seems so palpable
And dense: people and things
And the landscapes
They inhabit or move through.

Words, on the other hand,
Are so abstract--they're
Made of empty air
Or black scratches on a page
That urge us to utter
Certain sounds.
                      And us:
Poised in the middle, aware
Of the objects out there
Waiting patiently to be named,
As if the right words
Could save them.
                      And don't
They deserve it?
So much hidden inside each one,
Such a longing
To become the beloved.

And inside us: the sounds
That could extend that blessing--
How they crowd our mouths,
How they press up against
Our lips, which are such
A narrow exit for a joy so desperate.

Sunday, October 7

Farm Wife


Farm Wife
by R.S. Thomas

Hers is the clean apron, good for fire
Or lamp to embroider, as we talk slowly
In the long kitchen, while the white dough
Turns to pastry in the great oven,
Sweetly and surely as hay making
In a June meadow, hers are the hands,
Humble with milking, but still now
In her wide lap as though they heard
A quiet music, hers being the voice
That coaxes time back to the shadows
In the room's corners, O, hers is all
This strong body, the safe island
Where men may come, sons and lovers,
Daring the cold seas of her eyes.