Friday, April 23, 2010

Poetry Friday: Too big to fail




With the presidential Marine 1 helicopter chopping its blades over our offices yesterday, Earth Day didn't feel very green here at Sanford Greenburger. Obama was on his way to scold Wall Street at nearby Cooper Union. Sirens blared, traffic snarled.

But then I received this beautiful message in an email from poet and novelist George Ella Lyon, and the two worlds grafted together.


THE MEADOW DOES NOT KNOW


about the stock market.

Today she is worth

exactly what she was worth

yesterday, a year ago, at creation.

I don’t mean property value,

taxable assets. I mean

milkweed and copper moths

honeybees, cow vetch,

king snakes.

Meadow life

is not money.

What rises

and falls here are stems

and flowers, leaves and fruit.

No zigzag line of profit and panic

but the great wheel turning.

Here God gives of her

extravagance and here, like

flicker, viceroy, dragonfly

we come into our inheritance.

-- Earth Poems, George Ella Lyon

5 comments:

Paige said...

I stumbled across your blog and this poem at just the right moment. I was feeling guilty about all the brochures I picked up at an Earth Day which I don't hope to read, and will probably recycle. Life's ironies appear at inopportune moments. Thanks for the post to add the right spirit to the week.

brattcat said...

beautiful.

sbjames said...

Beautiful
Thanks for sharing it. Brenda.

Varsha Bajaj said...

We need more poets among us.

J. E. Morris said...

I also just stumbled across your blog. And I also wanted to thank you for sharing. May day was starting out kind of crummy and you've put things in better perspective for me. Thank you!