Pausing for Poetry

I tend to live life by routine and rituals. I don't plan this, it's just the way my life falls into place. For years I've listened to NPR (National Public Radio) while getting ready for work in the morning. They have a gentle way of giving the news that doesn't cause me to panic like some other news sources do. One segment in particular has sent me to work many a day with a light heart. Every morning Garrison Keillor, with his soothing voice, reads a poem on a daily 5 minute segment called, "A Writer's Almanac". Most of the poems he chooses to read give a clearer picture of what is already familiar, thus moving the ordinary to the extraordinary. I have a book that is a compilation of the poems he's read over the years called "Good Poems" selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor. The one I chose to share with my dear, discerning readers today is titled "Welcome Morning" by Anne Sexton.

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Canon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry "hello, there Anne"
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it, let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning
lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
dies young.