Sabbath Poem

April is National Poetry Month

Saturdays are often my sabbath because I usually work on Sundays. During the other six days of the week, it’s easy to get caught up in all of my responsibilities. Today I can take some private time to turn my thoughts to God’s song in my heart. I find poetry to be a wonderful way to sing along.

A Sabbath Poem
by Wendell Berry in The Peace of Wild Things

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 a while 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 in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.