Friday September 5 – happiness old as water
An out of the ordinary week for these posts. Monday Labor Day; Tuesday one of the weekly days off that I’ve slipped into the 5 day work week rhythm; Wednesday a goodbye for Mike Evans who lived 30 feet from me in Lansing Reilly, and Thursday when I stayed with grief and loss with the help of a soul friend from Sweden.
Today’s 3 line poem might make a good reminder that all these poems and occasional sacred passages are intended to help our imaginations during the wear and labor of our adult commitments, which make us generous and beautiful but also worn and edgy. On day one of the posts, September 25, 2013, appears a statement of purpose for all the posts that follow:
“In easy times you don’t have to be so careful about your language; you will spontaneously find playful words, wise with kindness. In hard times it helps
to pay attention to word choices lest we slide into cynical, frightened, or bitter language that biases our imaginations. The poems or sacred texts in these posts
are beautiful, just the thing to pay attention to in hard times.”
Today’s poem is so short you could sing it 5 times and even breathe a little in between. Have a good weekend.
john st sj
“By the Front Door”
Rain through the morning
and in the long pool a toad singing
happiness old as water
W.S. Merwin
“By the Front Door” by W. S. Merwin, from The Moon Before Morning. © Copper Canyon Press, 2014.
Art credit: Detail from “Common Frog Croaking,” photograph by © Chris Grady (originally color).