How rarely I have stopped to thank the steady effort of the world to stay the world
Three poems of wonder and gratitude that the world, indeed, keeps turning
A few months ago I began (re)taking piano lessons. I played off-and-on as a kid, but between moves and other changes, I never got the momentum needed to stick with it. That, or I simply lacked the skill, talent, and/or discipline to get better. Let’s say it was all of the above.
In any case, I recently started working with a guy now logged in my phone as “Pat Piano”, a wonderful instructor who, perhaps because he also learned to play as an adult, has a great knack for weaving small, digestible bits of music theory into my otherwise “Preparatory Level” arrangements. As he has slowly and patiently oriented me to the music fundamentals familiar to most third graders, one of my primary takeaways has been not only to grow in my enjoyment and appreciation of music conceptually as a pillar of the Quadrivium (“math in time”), it has also opened my mind afresh to contemplate the sheer quantity of talent*, skill, knowledge, order, and expertise that quietly makes the world as I know it so lovely, beautiful, and functional —and to marvel at how many extraordinary ordinary things I know so, so, infinitesimally little about!
It is this posture of wonder (and the fact that I am currently staying at the gorgeous mountain farm of our dear friends the Yates, whose philosophy-stacked bookshelves, chicken and goat pens, and painting studio, foster a fond admiration for things I’ve yet to learn!) that leads me to share three poems of gratitude here in the wake of Thanksgiving:
“Psalm” by Marilyn Nelson
“Miracle Fair” by Wislawa Szymborska, and
“How Rarely I Have Stopped to Thank the Steady Effort” by Jane Hirshfield
Each is grounded in a similarly humble awe of this great wide world of ours, and each pays heed to the simple, accessible act of careful attention as the portal through which we can (re)discover reasons to be grateful even as we ache over the disorder, confusion, and pain that surrounds us. As Simone Weil wisely reminds us (as do writers of all kinds), “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” Indeed.
1. "Psalm" by Marilyn Nelson So many cars have driven past me without a head-on collision. I started counting them today...(read full poem here) I first learned about Marilyn Nelson on one of my all-time favorite podcast episodes (Listen, Read the transcript, do it all!) I especially love her reimagination of Psalm 23, a psalm of comfort and provision, that highlights all the ways we are protected, cared for, kept alive without ever really realizing it.
2. "Miracle Fair" by Wislawa Symborska Commonplace miracle: that so many commonplace miracles happen... (read full poem here) Wislawa Szymborska lived in Poland through the height of World War II and its aftermath, so while many of her poems deal with the horrors of war, torture and death, they always do so with a kind of wry and grounded realism that is juxtaposed with humor and a rich appreciation for everyday objects and interactions as a kind of consolation amid perplexity. Consider the sheer pleasure she derives from the world as it is when, in her litany of miracles, she cites: First among equal miracles: cows are cows. Second to none: just this orchard from just that seed. From Miracle Fair: Selected Poems of Wisława Szymborska translated by Joanna Trzeciak with an introduction by Czeslaw Milosz
3. "How Rarely I have Stopped to Thank the Steady Effort"by Jane Hirshfield ...Something happens, much does not. Or as always, everything happens: the standing walls keep standing with their whole attention. A noisy crow call lowers and lifts its branch, the crow scent enters the leaves, enters the bark, like stirred-in honey gone into the tea. How rarely I have stopped to thank the steady effort of the world to stay the world. To thank the furnish of green and abandon of yellow. (read the full poem here) Hirshfield works at the intersection of poetry, the sciences, and environmental concerns, exploring the deep relationship between the natural world and our philosophical lives. In this extended meditation, she draws attention, like Nelson and Szymborska, to the sheer magnitude of phenomena that sustains itself, and us, in ordinary, unspoken ways day after day: "the standing walls keep standing"! From Hirshfield's collection The Beauty: Poems (Knopf: 2015)
In this dormant, fallow time of year where much of the good work that sustains us is happening underground, in the darkness, I hope in some small way these poems invite a portal of wonder into your own everyday surroundings, stoking a sense of generosity and gratitude for all that is given, unbidden.
* Of note is special and deep appreciation for the incredible musical talents of my friend, Grammy-award-winning producer and recording artist, Charlie Peacock, and the creator and master producer of The Porter’s Gate Worship Project, Isaac Wardell - I’m in awe of those two!