Sometimes lying awake makes molehills look like mountains. But more often, I’ve noticed the strange clarity that comes in the middle of the night. This is the up-side of my now predictable insomnia, startling awake around 2:00 and seeing something I really needed to see during the preceding day, but the daytime noise, and my daytime defenses, kept it hidden. I lie there in the quiet and understand: that’s why my child reacted that way; that’s why it bugged me so much when so-and-so said that; that’s how I should have handled that. I hate losing sleep. But I also need these moments.
Wendell Berry develops a similar theme, but with unmistakable irony, in ”Voices Late at Night.” It’s structured as a series of short prayers and their answers. Here are a few excerpts:
O Lord, until I come to fame
I pray Thee, keep the peace;
Allay all strife, let rancor cease
Until my book may earn its due acclaim.It ends in strife, unknown.***************************Since I have promised wealth to all,
Bless our economy;
Preserve our incivility
And greed until the votes are cast this fall.Unknown, it ends in ruin.
****************************
O Lord, despite our right and wrong,
Let Thy daylight come down
Again on woods and field and town,
To be our daily bread and daily song.It lives in bread and song.
The entire poem isn’t available online, but it’s from Entries, Pantheon Books, 1994.
Poetry Friday is here today.
