Guy Reams (00:01.08)
This is day 46, Sabbath poem number one. I've 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 I think we should have listened to. First up is Wendell Berry, who's one of the most influential poets that I've read in my life. His writing strikes a chord with me
that hits with a deep resonance. I can only admire what he writes and only hope in some small way I could reach his ideal. His greatest work was a book he wrote called The Unsettling of America Culture and Agriculture.
Guy Reams (00:46.776)
However, Wendell Berry is also a poet. He wrote one of my favorite poems in 1979, and I'll recite it here. Sabbath poem number one. 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 awhile 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 to my consternations, I hear my song at last, and I sing it. As we sing, the day turns, and the trees move.