sabbath poems

We have a 20 minute ride to our church on Sunday mornings and so lately we've taken to reading a poem on the trip. It's just about enough time to read it, work through it, and then read it again with meaning and appreciation. This week we turned to Wendell Berry's A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems.

Even if you do not go out "among trees" on this Lord's Day, may you find the place and time so that "all [your] stirring becomes quiet." Wishing you a day of Sabbath rest...

I Go Among Trees and Sit Still
by Wendell Berry
I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
Around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
Where I left them, asleep like cattle

Then what is afraid of me comes,
and lives awhile in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings and I hear its song.

After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.