Observation (Days 1-4)
“Teach us to be still” is an excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s long poem, “Ash Wednesday.” Every Ash Wednesday I turn to this poem to help center myself for a period of contemplation. As a practicing Episcopalian, Lent serves as forty days when I think more about being still and strive harder to be observant. As a writer, I have always done this, but the liturgical calendar is a handy way to form some structure around it. Whatever your beliefs or values system you can use these forty days to think about stillness and observation with me.
Every four days during the forty-six days of Lent (the season of Lent is traditional said to be forty days, but that’s because the Sundays are not counted) I’ll put up a new post that includes poems, passages, songs, paintings, and more to help you think about being still, being observant, and, maybe, being creative. I will offer all of them with very little or none of my own context or thoughts. They are here for you to enjoy and/or think about for each of the next forty-six days.
February 23 (Day 1)
I’ll begin with this poem that always makes me think more about being observant, being conscious.
Two-headed Calf
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass. And
as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.
-Laura Gilpin
February 24 (Day 2)
February 25 (Day 3)
Monosyllabic
Let me be monosyllabic to-day, O Lord.
Yesterday I loosed a snarl of words on a fool, on a child.
To-day, let me be monosyllabic . . . a crony of old men
who wash sunlight in their fingers and
enjoy slow-pacing clocks.
-Carl Sandburg
February 26 (Day 4)
One of the most beautiful scenes in a movie, ever.
Check back on February 27 for the next four posts.