“To reteach a thing its loveliness. . . “
St. Francis and the Sow
by Galway Kinnell
Good morning, New Day! Thank you for opening this message!
What’s your purpose?
I think all of us probably have one or more things in our lives that give us a sense of purpose. Some things that are specific to each of us, and some that are (hopefully) shared by many other humans trying to make the world a better place.
This week my friend and New Day practice member, cin Salach, introduced me to a beautiful poem I’d like to share with you.
cin happens to be a poet herself, and writes commissioned poems professionally (I even commissioned her to write a poem last year for my dear cat Khan!)
This poem reminds me of all the little precious moments each of us has available, an infinite number really, to (re)inspire in ourselves and others a sense of wholeness, love, and connection
Enjoy!
Saint Francis and the Sow
By Galway Kinnell
The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don’t flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.
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