The Sabbath Poems

Wendell Berry wrote a collection of  poems over the course of his life which he called the Sabbath Poems.  They were poems celebrating a life lived and a place dear to his heart.  I thought I'd also celebrate the Sabbath in such a way.  It seems perfect for a Sunday, the act of poetry.  Poetry captures the essence of Sabbath inactivity, thinking about and giving of the life we've stroven for all week.  Poetry's nature is thankfulness and revelation.  Is this not the root of the Sabbath?  So, because I'm not a very good poet though I'd like to think I am, I'll give not just my own poems, which you can thank me will be few, but yours if you want to send me them and of course those of Wendell's that I've found generous to my spirit. 

The Fourth Sabbath of January.

How To Be a Poet

by Wendell Berry

(to remind myself)

Make a place to sit down.

Sit down. Be quiet.

You must depend upon

affection, reading, knowledge,

skill—more of each

than you have—inspiration,

work, growing older, patience,

for patience joins time

to eternity. Any readers

who like your work,

doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath

the unconditioned air.

Shun electric wire.

Communicate slowly. Live

a three-dimensioned life;

stay away from screens.

Stay away from anything

that obscures the place it is in.

There are no unsacred places;

there are only sacred places

and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.

Make the best you can of it.

Of the little words that come

out of the silence, like prayers

prayed back to the one who prays,

make a poem that does not disturb

the silence from which it came.