… I walk among the rows of bowed heads –
the children sleeping through fourth grade
so as to be ready for what is ahead,
the monumental boredom of junior high
and the rush forward tearing their wings
loose and turning their eyes forever outward.
… I would like to arm each one
with a quiver of arrows so that they might
rush like wind there where no battle rages.
How dear the gift of laughter in the face of
the cold winter mornings.
I went among these same children, just born,
and leaned down to hear their breath delivered that day,
burning with joy. There was such wonder
in their sleep, such purpose in their eyes…
And not one turned against me or the light,
not one said, I am sick, I am tired, I will go home,
not one complained or drifted alone,
unloved, on the hardest day of their lives.
Eleven years from now they will become
the women and men of Flint or Paradise,
the majors of a minor town, and I
will be gone into smoke or memory,
so I bow to them here and whisper
all I know, all I will never know … – Philip Levine- (with liberties by Wm)
As soon as we accept life’s most terrifying
dreadfulness, at the risk of perishing from it …
then an intuition of blessedness will open up for us
the unutterable abundance and power of our existence to change this … – Rilke – (with liberties by Wm)
PiYo Wednesday 8:00 am
Rise Up…Keep The Faith…
William
