{"id":739,"date":"2014-09-05T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=739"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:50:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:13","slug":"september-5-a-toad-singing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/09\/05\/september-5-a-toad-singing\/","title":{"rendered":"September 5 – a toad singing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday September 5 \u00a0– \u00a0 happiness old as water<\/p>\n

An out of the ordinary week for these posts. \u00a0Monday Labor Day; Tuesday one of the weekly days off that I\u2019ve slipped into the 5 day work week rhythm; \u00a0Wednesday a goodbye for Mike Evans who lived 30 feet from me in Lansing Reilly, \u00a0and Thursday when I stayed with grief and loss with the help of a soul friend from Sweden.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s 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. \u00a0 On day one of the posts, September 25, 2013, appears a statement of purpose for all the posts that follow:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn easy times you don\u2019t have to be so careful about your language; \u00a0you will spontaneously find playful words, wise with kindness. \u00a0In hard times it helps
\nto pay attention to word choices lest we slide into cynical, frightened, or bitter language that biases our imaginations. \u00a0The poems or sacred texts in these posts
\nare beautiful, just the thing to pay attention to in hard times.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s poem is so short you could sing it 5 times and even breathe a little in between. \u00a0 Have a good weekend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john st sj<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the Front Door”<\/b><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Rain through the morning
\nand in the long pool a toad singing
\nhappiness old as water<\/p>\n

W.S. Merwin<\/p>\n

\"W.S.Merwin\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“By the Front Door” by\u00a0W. S. Merwin,<\/b><\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0The Moon Before Morning<\/i>. \u00a9 Copper Canyon Press, 2014.
\nArt credit:<\/i>\u00a0Detail from “Common Frog Croaking,”\u00a0photograph<\/b><\/a>\u00a0by \u00a9 Chris Grady\u00a0(originally color).<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday September 5 \u00a0– \u00a0 happiness old as water An out of the ordinary week for these posts. \u00a0Monday Labor Day; Tuesday one of the weekly days off that I\u2019ve slipped into the 5 day work week rhythm; \u00a0Wednesday a … 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\/739"}],"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=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":746,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}