My mother-in-law sent me two books of poetry by Carl Sandburg. I don't think I've read his work since high school. There's something about his style, gritty and plain, American in the "e pluribus unum" (out of many, one) kind of way. Here's one that reminded me of my grandfather, a child of the Dust Bowl who never graduated from high school, found work through the WPA and eventually at the Pentagon, who was also a painter and dreamer, sending two
 |
|
Self Portrait by Roy Roberts
|
daughters and four grandchildren off to college. He taught me how to ride a bike, and fix things with duct tape. While he may never have used the word resilience which we throw around a lot at St. Cyprian's & Cyprian's --- his life defines the term.
A Father To His Son by Carl Sandburg A father sees his son nearing manhood.
What shall he tell that son?
'Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'
And this might stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum monotony
and guide him among sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.
'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'
And this too might serve him.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
The growth of a frail flower in a path up
has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
A tough will counts. So does desire.
So does a rich soft wanting.
Without rich wanting nothing arrives.
Tell him too much money has killed men
and left them dead years before burial:
the quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs
has twisted good enough men
sometimes into dry thwarted worms.
Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.
Tell him to be a fool every so often
and to have no shame over having been a fool
yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
thus arriving at intimate understanding
of a world numbering many fools.
Tell him to be alone often and get at himself
and above all tell himself no lies about himself
whatever the white lies and protective fronts
he may use against other people.
Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong
and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.
Tell him to be different from other people
if it comes natural and easy being different.
Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.
Let him seek deep for where he is born natural.
Then he may understand Shakespeare
and the Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,
Michael Faraday and free imaginations
Bringing changes into a world resenting change.
He will be lonely enough
to have time for the work
he knows as his own.
"Bringing changes into a world resenting change" is lonely work, and yet the work we are doing at St. Cyprian's and Cyprian's arc is of that very sort. Last weekend 300 people came and went from the corner of Turk & Lyon - some for church, most for a variety of other meaningful activities such as staying sober, inspiring theater, and community building. The weekend before, about the same number came through our doors --- perhaps this is our new normal. As we gather in large groups may we also make time to do the important work of finding solitude, silent rooms, places where we we may seek deep for where we are born natural.
See you soon at Turk & Lyon.
