{"id":1399,"date":"2015-06-16T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T04:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1399"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:22","slug":"june-16-i-ask-for-a-moments-indulgence-to-sit-by-thy-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/06\/16\/june-16-i-ask-for-a-moments-indulgence-to-sit-by-thy-side\/","title":{"rendered":"June 16 “I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by thy side”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday June 16\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 summer break<\/strong><\/p>\n

This May and early June seemed to dance right by.\u00a0\u00a0 Six weeks ago spring arrived, cooler than usual; this week\u2019s mid-June rains, more dense and frequent than usual, bring some flooding and surging leaves and grass and flowers . . . lush early summer.\u00a0 It is one of summer\u2019s arts to notice beauty as the pace of life eases back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During a week on Pine Ridge, a Lakota friend reminded me of the 25 year old who, fifty years ago, earned a nickname, \u201chalf fast.\u201d\u00a0 Lots of affection and amusement encapsulated there; a sign of welcome for me I didn\u2019t recognize at first, while I scrambled to keep up with my job and, hardly noticing, lived into adulthood.\u00a0 Nobody told me about the nickname until years later.\u00a0 Some beauty, so St. Ignatius teaches, appears while remembering already-lived times and places, tasting them again and letting them teach you what you did not notice at the time.\u00a0\u00a0 Some beauty requires standing still and listening to beauty in the present moment.\u00a0\u00a0 Remembering and listening, summer is a good time for both.<\/p>\n

I come to Pine Ridge each spring to listen to the Meadowlarks sing, and to renew graces of life in this place of beauty and laughter and grief.\u00a0 The Rez slows my steps and my breathing.\u00a0 And reminds me that the normal work year has ended and summer has begun.\u00a0 There\u2019s still plenty of work time but the pace is different.\u00a0\u00a0 For you too, I hope.<\/p>\n

This is pretty autobiographical for a workday post.\u00a0 I write today by way of announcing that the Work Day poetry list begins its summer break now, offering me time for gardening, baseball, nordic trac, visiting soul friends, and for reading some poetry.<\/p>\n

See you the first Monday in August.\u00a0 When the posts will begin for the coming year.<\/p>\n

Have a blest summer.<\/p>\n

p.s.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a recording of the song of the Western Meadowlark.<\/p>\n\n

p.p.s.\u00a0 Tagore may have written this prayer-poem with summer in mind; I don\u2019t know for sure but it works for me.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post –\u00a0 Gitanjali # 5 <\/strong><\/p>\n

I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by thy side,
\nThe works that I have in hand
\nI will finish afterwards.
\nAway from the sight of thy face my heart knows
\nno rest nor respite,
\nand my work becomes an endless toil
\nin a shoreless sea of toil.<\/p>\n

Now is the time to sit quiet, face to face with thee
\nand to sing dedication of life
\nin this silent and overflowing leisure.<\/p>\n

Rabindranath Tagore<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday June 16\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 summer break This May and early June seemed to dance right by.\u00a0\u00a0 Six weeks ago spring arrived, cooler than usual; this week\u2019s mid-June rains, more dense and frequent than usual, bring some flooding and surging leaves … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1402,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions\/1402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}