Thanksgiving Table
Photo: theodysseyonline.com
I came across this fitting poem by Wendell Berry in Farming, A Hand Book. It reminds me that this generation is not the only one that has seen the world on fire. I read it to our guests at our Thanksgiving table. We had a beautiful but small representation of our world with Central Asians, Libyans and Americans, Muslims and Christians breaking bread together and giving thanks. The phrase “In this World” comes from the New Testament. Jesus to his disciples: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Here is the poem:
The hill pasture, an open place among the trees,
tilts into the valley. The clovers and tall grasses
are in bloom. Along the foot of the hill
dark floodwater moves down the river.
The sun sets. Ahead of the nightfall the birds sing.
I have climbed up to water the horses
and now sit and rest, high on the hillside,
letting the day gather and pass. Below me
cattle graze out across the wide fields of the bottomlands,
slow and preoccupied as stars. In this world
men are making plans, wearing themselves out,
spending their lives, in order to kill each other.
– Wendell Berry
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