Wednesday, August 16 “the step
you don’t want to take” David Whyte
Convocation gathers women and men who come to work at our 3 campuses, week in and week out, to take the thousands of small steps that make a university come to life again and again. In our tradition, today marks the first of those small steps, a day in the August calendar dedicated to beginning again.
David Whyte writes about 1st steps. reading this poem on this particular day, gives me a taste of rebirth. I hope for you too. We live days of tedious bickering in the U.S. political world, days of alarming anger, days of fear. Perhaps we can find grace in the poet’s words, some surprises, even joy.
Best to read out loud with pauses.
Have a blest day, and a blest year
john sj
Today’s Post: “Start Close In”
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
River Flow: New & Selected Poems
Many Rivers Press
David Whyte b. 1955