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poem
November 2009 
If you had to pick another religion to practice, what would it be
Posted on Jan 14th, 2009
by 
Laura
Laura
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for January 12, 2009:
Ookami posted part of a poem by Wallace Stevens on another blog site, and I ended up posting this, the second stanza of Sunday Morning, also by Stevens. I called it my religion and he said something like yes, it is a religion. it says it all for me.
Why should she give her bounty to the dead?
What is divinity if it can come
Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Shall she not find in comforts of the sun,
In pungent fruit and bright green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth,
Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven?
Divinity must live within herself:
Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow;
Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty
Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights;
All pleasures and all pains, remembering
The bough of summer and the winter branch.
These are the measure destined for her soul.
--Wallace Stevens, from The Palm at the End of the MInd
Why should she give her bounty to the dead?
What is divinity if it can come
Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Shall she not find in comforts of the sun,
In pungent fruit and bright green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth,
Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven?
Divinity must live within herself:
Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow;
Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty
Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights;
All pleasures and all pains, remembering
The bough of summer and the winter branch.
These are the measure destined for her soul.
--Wallace Stevens, from The Palm at the End of the MInd
Access: Public
this reminded me that I posted “Sunday Morning” way back when….9/8/07. When I went back to that blog I was embarrassed….but Wallace Stevens is still one of my favorite poets.
why embarrassed? I guess it is pretty earnest. or something. I love him too.
this is wondrous, almost unbearably wondrous. I love him three.
Ah yes truly beautiful and true wisdom….
Thank you..
Love
Ange..
willow and ange, glad you like. he’s major for me. the rest of the poem is great too.
Last night i went flying through the palm trees in my mind letting my fingers drag across their lush leafy tops. In a fit of sensory overload my hand seized upon a fragrant eucalyptus leaf that delighted my nose and then my lips and then my tounge…..the juices flooded my mouth like the ocean which lay in front of me beckoning me forward.
Nearing the shore the wind picked up speed shooting me straight up into the sky away from my playground. I was in no mood to depart paradise so down i go in a sudden plunge followed by a last minute graceful arc to touch down gently my bare feet in the cool wet sand of the waters edge.
On the other side of the fence the bright green, yellow, red and blue crocodiles woke and swam out to sea to scare off any sharks that might want to disturb my swim with the pretty fish. As long as i left them to have their side of the fence as they wanted it they weren’t interested in eating me. We had a carefully concocted cooperative contract.
And i thought what a perfectly wonderful world. So I will have to agree with you and wallace and okami: it is a fine religion. in every way delightful to immerse oneself in.
mmm. mmmm. mmmmmmmmmmmmm. mm. :-)
Darin, you never fail to make me smile and think. all pleasures and all pains. yeah. I like that contract you had with crocs. it is a wonderful world. Dawn….yeah. : - )
well if i made somebody smile, then it is most certainly a great day to be alive!
:-)
you know i had the dream and to me it was just silly, thrilling, fulfilling fun, but then your poetic incursion illuminated a world i had nearly missed. so often you make me stop and notice things i am blithely trampling: a twig, a feather, a stone, a leaf. all the smaller details of my broader landscape. all these little treasures that i nearly missed, in my long, rapid strides. i get so excited over the little treasures, the world in a grain of sand and all, i have to tell you about it.
At any rate may we continue to delight one another and others
It is! watching Obama express footage. I will surely cry in front of my students on Tuesday during the inauguration. oh well. : )
oh well? how about o joy?
all these months of anxiety bottled up, now they’re pulling the cork
as above the more you feel the more alive you are
if you cry then maybe they will learn that it’s okay to cry
that’s a good lesson
“it’s alright to cry.
crying gets the hurt out of you.”
–brett dennen
: )