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.
9 responses so far ↓
Sara // May 16, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’ll have to look for that. I tend to think of random, nonsensical brilliant things if I wake at night. My dreaming brain understands them; alas, I don’t.
TadMack // May 16, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I’d also like to find this book. Snippets of prayers and confused worries, random thoughts and unspooled memories are what make up late night conversing… with God or anyone else. Neat.
writer2b // May 16, 2008 at 3:59 pm
You ladies probably pick up more of what you’re supposed to in the daytime! Me, I have to wait till I’m asleep… Once I even realized a measure of music I’d been miscounting in one of these night revelations.
‘Entries’ is my favorite Berry collection. It includes “The Blue Robe,” which I posted here for Valentine’s Day’s Poetry Friday. It also has a series of poems about the poet’s father that are fantastic.
jama // May 16, 2008 at 4:17 pm
It’s strange how the subconscious works. Insomnia is definitely a doubled-edged sword — physically exhausting but often mentally stimulating — I know the clarity you mention. I like the third prayer best!
writer2b // May 16, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Me too! Still terse, but kindest of the three.
Jenny // May 16, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Yes! This is me, too! Awake and half resentful for the lack of sleep and half relieved that I have silent hours to think in solitude… I find that I often find some of my favorite thoughts, important ideas (to me) and big questions come to me this way.
Thanks sharing this poem with us. It’s new to me, but I absolutely can’t wait to read more!
The Round-Up « TWO WRITING TEACHERS // May 17, 2008 at 12:24 am
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Mary Lee // May 17, 2008 at 10:12 am
Another book for my “to read” list!
cloudscome // May 17, 2008 at 10:51 am
I love Wendell Berry. And I too figure many things out in the middle of the night. I guess I listen better then…
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