Early each morning, the people quietly arose,
then emerged from their cottages
with their pitchers to fill them with light.
It was wonderful to see them
gathered at the well —
mothers first with their children,
each child with a pitcher of its own,
infants with tiny thimbles
old men trembling to keep hold,
farmers, midwives, poets.
There was a wise saying in those days:
First, let us bring light.
Then someone came along
and broke all the pitchers.
But in time they found other ways
to bring light —
in their eyes, in their hearts, in their hands;
in their minds.
And so their saying is right;
what they said about light, still stands.
Poems, Slightly Used, April 16, 2009
[ 55 ]
Categories: Poems, Slightly Used
Tags: Poems
