Tuesday, March 19
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.–Revelation 21:1
The Wild Geese
Horseback on Sunday morning,
harvest over, we taste persimmon
and wild grape, sharp sweet
of summer’s end. In time’s maze
over the fall fields, we name names
that went west from here, names
that rest on graves. We open
a persimmon seed to find the tree
that stands in promise,
pale, in the seed’s marrow.
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 ~
(Collected Poems 1957-1982)
Sometimes, O God, we hope for a new world or a new life, when what we really need is eyes to see and hearts to treasure the gifts you have already given us. Open our eyes and our hearts, we pray. Amen.