{"id":1761,"date":"2016-02-26T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1761"},"modified":"2021-01-21T15:28:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T20:28:27","slug":"feb-26-a-little-girl-tugs-at-the-tablecloth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/26\/feb-26-a-little-girl-tugs-at-the-tablecloth\/","title":{"rendered":"Feb 26 — \u201cA Little Girl Tugs At The Tablecloth”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday February 26 \u00a0\u201c. . . and in this world not everything\u2019s been examined”<\/strong><\/p>\n

A friend of many years emailed me January 13, the day after Gerry Stockhausen died; \u00a0hers was one of so many that I only found it yesterday as I open one beautiful note after another.<\/p>\n

********
\n******** ********<\/p>\n

“I took a walk this evening, by the river, close to sunset–and tried to think of what I wanted to say to you by way of comfort on the death of your friend Gerry. \u00a0Slowly, I pieced this together, from your reference to him as a “soul mate,” and from your post, a few days ago, about a sermon he gave that inspired you. \u00a0 Souls…inspirations…We don’t lose our friends when they die, because we inspire them, breathe them in–and they become part of us, their souls become part of ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I’ve also attached two of my favorite poems, by way of reminding you that there is still beauty in our world.\u201d<\/p>\n

********
\n******** ********<\/p>\n

So, this Friday morning, weeks after I began to learn my way into the absence of a soul friend, I read one of the two poems the way I encourage readers of the Work Day list to \u00a0read; \u00a0out loud, with pauses. \u00a0I bet you will love it as my friend who sent it does and as I, now this Friday morning in late February, do too.<\/p>\n

Have a blessed weekend.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0\u201cA Little Girl Tugs At The Tablecloth”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wislawa Szymborska<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>She\u2019s been in this world for over a year,<\/p>\n

and in this world not everything\u2019s been examined
\nand taken in hand.<\/p>\n

The subject of today\u2019s investigation
\nis things that don\u2019t move themselves.<\/p>\n

They need to be helped along,<\/p>\n

shoved, shifted,
\ntaken from their place and relocated.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t all want to go, e,g., the bookshelf,
\nthe cupboard, the unyielding walls, the table.<\/p>\n

But the tablecloth on the stubborn table
\n– when well-seized by its hems \u2013
\nmanifests a willingness to travel.<\/p>\n

And the glasses, plates,
\ncreamer, spoons, bowl,
\nare fairly shaking with desire.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fascinating,
\nwhat form of motion will they take,
\nonce they\u2019re trembling on the brink:
\nwill they roam across the ceiling?
\nfly around the lamp?
\nhop onto the windowsill and from there to a tree?<\/p>\n

Mr. Newton still has no say in this.
\nLet him look down from the heavens and wave his hands.<\/p>\n

This experiment must be completed.
\nAnd it will.<\/p>\n

(Translation: Clare Cavanagh and Stanis\u0142aw Bara\u0144czak)<\/p>\n

\"Szymborska\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maria Wis\u0142awa Anna Szymborska<\/strong>[1]<\/a>[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0[vi\u02c8swava\u00a0\u0282\u0268m\u02c8b\u0254rska]<\/a>\u00a0(2 July 1923\u00a0\u2013 1 February 2012)<\/p>\n

Nobel Prize in Literature 1996<\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wis\u0142awa_Szymborska<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday February 26 \u00a0\u201c. . . and in this world not everything\u2019s been examined” A friend of many years emailed me January 13, the day after Gerry Stockhausen died; \u00a0hers was one of so many that I only found it … 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\/1761"}],"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=1761"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}