i came across this poem in my journal that seemed appropriate for MLK day.
Wage peace with your breath.
Breath in the firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in the confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute
~Mary Oliver
2 comments:
OK, one more comment as I am hopskipping around your blog. This poem. It's now one of my favorites. So glad I found it here :)
And it makes me think of that line, from the Bible, 'pray for your ememies.' Hard to do, but the result is the same; redwing blackbirds, maple trees, beauty, rejoicing and peace.
I love that poem, it is so perfect. -- Kim
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