{"id":3541,"date":"2020-06-15T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3541"},"modified":"2020-06-15T10:32:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T14:32:20","slug":"june-15-i-ask-for-a-moments-indulgence-to-sit-by-thy-side-tagore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/06\/15\/june-15-i-ask-for-a-moments-indulgence-to-sit-by-thy-side-tagore\/","title":{"rendered":"June 15 \u201cI ask for a moment\u2019s indulgence to sit by thy side\u201d Tagore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, June 15, 2020 \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 summer break<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pre-note<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

I often look back a few years to today\u2019s date. \u00a0Some beauty requires standing still and savoring beauty in the present moment \u2013\u00a0remembering and listening, summer is a good time for both. \u00a0During this year\u2019s June days \u2013 so tense with uncertainty and anger and the weariness of spirit that has accompanied the uncertainty \u2013 reaching back to mid-June five years ago, when I had just returned from time on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation in South Dakota, caught my attention and invited some sacred remembering, per St. Ignatius\u2019 teaching.<\/p>\n

He calls this a \u201cRepetition,\u201d sensual remembering again as an anointing of the spirit that liberates your memory and imagination. (Spiritual Exercises # 118). \u00a0 What follows features one of Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s Gitanjali poems. \u00a0 More than that a recording of the Western Meadowlark which, for me., opens Pine Ridge deep in my soul year after year, the magical song of early summer.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day, \u00a0may it open into a week of improbable surprises that lasts this whole mid-June week.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

from Tuesday, June 16, 2015<\/u><\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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. .<\/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

Have a blest summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/a>meadowlark on a fence \u2013 Fog Basin, SD \u00a02008<\/p>\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 \u2013\u00a0 Gitanjali # 5\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I ask for a moment\u2019s 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, June 15, 2020 \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 summer break Pre-note: I often look back a few years to today\u2019s date. \u00a0Some beauty requires standing still and savoring beauty in the present moment \u2013\u00a0remembering and listening, summer is a good time for both. … 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\/3541"}],"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=3541"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3544,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3541\/revisions\/3544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}