The 365 Commitment

Day 46 – Sabbath Poem I

I have decided to spend this week giving tribute to some of my favorite poets. Since this is a week where the United States celebrates Thanksgiving, I thought I would post some of my favorite poems from the

“poets’ that we should have listened to.”

First up is Wendell Berry, who is one of the most influential poets in my life. His writing strikes a chord with me and hits with a deep resonance. I can only admire what he writes, and only hope in some small way I could reach to his ideal. His greatest work was The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. Link – https://www.amazon.com/Unsettling-America-Culture-Agriculture/dp/0871568772

Here is one of my favorite poems from him, written in 1979:

Sabbath Poem I

I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet

around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places

where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes

and lives a while in my sight.

What it fears in me leaves me,

and the fear of me leaves it.

It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.

I live for a while in its sight.

What I fear in it leaves it,and the fear of it leaves me.

It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor, mute in my consternations,

I hear my song at last,and I sing it.

As we sing,the day turns, the trees move.

Published @ https://www.best-poems.net/wendell-berry/sabbath-poem-i-1979.html

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