8.05.2009

I'm Only Breathing.

I can't believe I've never posted this before--have I? I love e.e. so much. Sometimes his words remind me a little bit of Walt Whitman.

i am a little church(no great cathedral)

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
--i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
--i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

4 comments:

Tasha said...

I like e.e. cummings, too. Only the poems of his that I have in my head are a bit dirtier!

Ms. X said...

this definitely reminds me of W.W...i think it's the momentum. lots of progressive tense reminds me of "out of the cradle".

teach people not books said...

charley-- yeah, i like those too ;]
you should have heard my kids when we were reading whitman--"ms. [me], why aren't we reading the other parts? are they too sexual?" "uhmm... why don't you google him and find out for yourself?"

x--i am refraining from referencing our discussion of your exploration of whitman in the context of your college career. aaaahahaha.

Amanda Villagómez said...

Wow, that is a great poem. I know that I have read e.e. cummings before in classes, but I would love to read more of his poetry now on my own.

I also wanted to let you know that I am doing a Mia King giveaway on one of my blogs. When I originally posted about one of her books you left a comment, so I thought you might be interested http://enbuscadeequilibrio.blogspot.com/2009/07/mia-king-q-and-giveaway.html