Dear Members and Friends,
Winter
contains many, hidden blessings. There are inconveniences, of course, but if
we find ourselves stuck inside, then let us read the books we did not have
time for when the weather beckoned us outside.
Winter
is a good time to read poetry. Pick your own favorite and just enter that
world of words and images. I would
recommend Wendell Berry, who farms and lives with his family in Henry County,
Kentucky.
Berry
has taught English at the
University
of
Kentucky
in
Lexington
and also at Stanford and
New York
University
. He has written more than forty books of fiction, essays and poetry, all the
while identifying himself as a farmer. Here are a few samples from his 2005
book, Given.
Whatever happens,
those who have learned
to love one another
have made their way
to the lasting world
and will not leave,
whatever happens.
The incarnate Word is with us,
is still speaking, is present
always, yet leaves no sign
but everything that is.
When we convene again
to understand the world,
the first speaker will again
point silently out the window
at the hillside in its season,
sunlit, under the snow,
and we will nod silently,
and
silently stand and go.
Overwhelming
Grace Be With You,
David
R. Harkness
