Although yesterday was Spring Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere (Autumn if you are in Southern Hemisphere), this poem arrived a bit late to my inbox for me to share it then. However…the new season has just arrived and continues of course. And so whether you are celebrating spring or fall, I believe this poem that esteemed poet and farmer Wendell Berry wrote in 2012, speaks directly and deeply to the situation our world now faces.
While each person’s story, needs, and sufferings through this process are unique, humanity as a whole is being asked to purify, to let go of what does not serve, to draw inward (& away from news and collective noise!) and appreciate what is real, beautiful, wise, and available in the present moment. And to know that we can use the past as compost to create the new.
May it help you in this time, bringing healing and wisdom to you and any loved ones with whom you share it.
A Purification
by Wendell Berry
At start of spring I open a trench
in the ground. I put into it
the winter’s accumulation of paper,
pages I do not want to read
again, useless words, fragments,
errors. And I put into it
the contents of the outhouse:
light of the sun, growth of the ground,
finished with one of their journeys.
To the sky, to the wind, then,
and to the faithful trees, I confess
my sins: that I have not been happy
enough, considering my good luck;
have listened to too much noise;
have been inattentive to wonders;
have lusted after praise.
And then upon the gathered refuse
of mind and body, I close the trench,
folding shut again the dark,
the deathless earth. Beneath that seal
the old escapes into the new.
Thank for sharing these calming and peaceful words at this time.
And thank you for letting me know this had a helpful effect. Good time to share such things…as always, really.
Beautiful!
I am glad you enjoyed this Barbara!
“…the old escapes into the new.”
Lovely!
Thank you, Elizabeth.
Isn’t that a great line? Although they all are. Thank you, David!