A Purification
At start of spring I open a trench
in the ground. I put into it
the winter’s accumulation of paper,
pages I do not want to read
again, useless words, fragments,
errors. And I put into it
the contents of the outhouse:
light of the sun, growth of the ground,
finished with one of their journeys.
To the sky, to the wind, then,
and to the faithful trees, I confess
my sins: that I have not been happy
enough, considering my good luck;
have listened to too much noise,
have been inattentive to wonders,
have lusted after praise.
And then upon the gathered refuse
of mind and body, I close the trench,
folding shut again the dark,
the deathless earth. Beneath that seal
the old escapes into the new.
–– Wendell Berry
Ripple Effects 
Arti,
Thanks for sharing this poem and all that it reminds me of, especially my sin of not being happy enough too, considering how blessed I am……
Yinling
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful poem. You have given me an idea of what to do with the many papers I am reluctant to recycle publicly because of personal information and for security. Why indeed not bury the shredded papers in the compost heap to complete the cycle of living and giving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good idea! 🙂
LikeLike
Arti, You and I have a love for literature and nature in common. I created a blog for the Baltimore County Forestry Board. This post discusses “How Do Birds Birds Survive the Final Months of Winter?” shorturl.at/novP3
LikeLiked by 1 person
Vic, the link doesn’t lead to the article. Pls. check.
LikeLike
Love Wendell Berry !
Wild Geese by WB
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes.
Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here.
And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the ripples.
LikeLike
What a wonderful poem, Arti. As you might imagine, I smiled at that thought of
“the winter’s accumulation of paper,
pages I do not want to read
again, useless words, fragments,
errors…”
It reminded me of the year I finally gave in and took that two-foot tall stack of New Yorker magazines to the trash, and piled them by the side of the dumpster. The sense of relief was palpable. Perhaps someone picked them up to read. Perhaps someone threw them into the dumpster. In either case, I was free to move on, and find some new words to read!
And, yes: you can bet I’m going to ‘steal’ this poem for my own blog, some day.
LikeLike
I took similar piles of magazines of National Geographic and deposited them at the “library” in my mother’s retirement home. All were distributed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately our libraries , even used book sales, won’t accept NG. I have a whole box in my basement. 😑
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sad. Try retirement homes, or craft clubs. I also place used books and last year’s magazines in book collection containers near shops and malls.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have been trying to declutter all the time but not a simple task. Papers and magazines and what seem like junk might carry memories. Those that don’t have sentimental value are easy to deal with, just dump them to the recycle bin. It’s those that do that pose a dilemma. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see more brown earth here than snow — a sure sign your winter is nearing its end and spring is beginning to burst through. I went through a magazine purge a few weeks ago and am STILL well inundated with reading material I’ll not ever get to… articles pulled from newspapers, things I’ll never use for collage, don’t even start me on the filing cabinet! But, I am glad have been “happy enough,” maybe even more so! And not regretting all I’ve read or listened to in my world. Life is good. Just extremely cluttered!
LikeLike
I do love a good Wendell Berry poem. Thank you for sharing this one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A cleansing process…
LikeLiked by 1 person