What We Need Is Here
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
Wendell Berry
This poem I pinched from misswhistle in America, I have a couple of books by Wendell Berry, perhaps his most famous is the 'Unsettling of America', which I have just pulled out to put on the pile of books I must read again. A farmer devoted to his land, and the use of horses on that land, a pioneer of the 'back to the land' movement.
For those of us who worry about the slightest of things, to live in the present moment and be happy is sometimes very difficult, but we cannot alter the world around us to fit an imaginery Utopia, we must exist in the moment.
I have a book of Wendell Berry's poetry too, and like his work for the same reasons as you do. I find existing in the current moment hard, as my brain seems to counter-exist in the past! I'm sure it's not, but that photo could have been taken in Wales . . . it looks familiar.
ReplyDeleteIt is Somerset Jennie. found it in a small file, looking down into a small valley just outside Bath. The problem with poetry it is always easier said than done ;)
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us (including me) would do well to pin this poem up on the wall - it is so true.
ReplyDeleteI know I should, worry about the slightest thing....
ReplyDelete