A Wish to be Generous

photo credit: RevelationSpace

A little poetry is always soothing. On days when I can't put things into words, when everything seems like a failure, when I'm on the verge of becoming numb, it helps to get outdoors and connect with nature, with life.

A Wish to be Generous

All that I serve will die, all my delights,

the flesh kindled from my flesh, garden and field,

the silent lilies standing in the woods,

the woods, the hill, the whole earth, all

will burn in man's evil, or dwindle

in its own age. Let the world bring on me

the sleep of darkness without stars, so I may know

my little light taken from me into the seed

of the beginning and the end, so I may bow

to mystery, and take my stand on the earth

like a tree in a field, passing without haste

or regret toward what will be, my life

a patient willing descent into the grass.

-Wendell Berry

Berry has long been one of my favorite authors. In addition to poetry, he has a few great essays on economics and agriculture. The man fully understands and articulates what it's like to feel God in His creation, and how valuable that creation is to people like him...and me.