quotations and poetry

doubt and faith

“The fugue of doubt and faith experienced as argument and art is the music of our lives.”

– Adam Gopnik, foreword, The Good Book

Nothing here is promised, not one day

…We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day.
This show is proof that history remembers
We lived through times when hate and fear seemed stronger;
We rise and fall and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside…

I loved every word of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s sonnet when he accepted his Tony (one of many I think), but these were my favorite lines.  Especially: nothing here is promised, not one day.

Poetry is where we are ourselves

Poetry, I tell my students,
is idiosyncratic. Poetry
is where we are ourselves…
Poetry is what you find
in the dirt in the corner,
overhear on the bus, God
in the details, the only way
to get from here to there.
Poetry (and now my voice is rising)
is not all love, love, love,
and I’m sorry the dog died.
Poetry (here I hear myself loudest)
is the human voice,
and are we not of interest to each other?
-Elizabeth Alexander, Ars Poetica #100

Patience is as valuable as industry

Hurry is beside the point, useless, an obstruction.
The thing is to be attentively present.
To sit and wait is as important as to move.
Patience is as valuable as industry.
What is to be known is
always there.
When it reveals itself to you, or when you come upon it,
it is by chance.
The only condition is your being there and being
watchful.

~ Wendell Berry

Yet another beauty I found on First Sip.