"...for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

-
The Bat
by Jane Kenyon


I was reading about rationalism,
the kind of thing we do up north
in early winter, where the sun
leaves work for the day at 4:15

Maybe the world is intelligible
to the rational mind;
and maybe we light the lamps at dusk
for nothing...

Then I heard the wings overhead.

The cats and I chased the bat
in circles—living room, kitchen,
pantry, kitchen, living room...
At every turn it evaded us

like the identity of the third person
in the Trinity: the one
who spoke through the prophets,
the one who astounded Mary
by suddenly coming near.

please note: art by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Comments

  1. mouse (aka kimy)February 12, 2009 at 11:56 AM

    wonderful poem by sweet jane, may she rest in peace...

    I had flashes of us chasing a bat around in circles, I had a cast on my leg and my husband was freaking because of the threat of 'disease.' all our cats were most amused and after a thirty minute chase - finally my husband caught the bat in his baseball glove as it turned a corner....

    the memory always brings a smile....

    what a hauntingly beautiful picture - who is the artist?

    ReplyDelete
  2. mouse (aka kimy)February 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM

    p.s. I love your most witty comment on the mouse! how I love a good groan....

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 12, 2009 at 12:10 PM

    Sorry, Henry Ossawa Tanner.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RudeeFebruary 12, 2009 at 12:24 PM

    Perhaps the Mouse' husband needs a job with the Detroit Tigers. It couldn't hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LydiaFebruary 12, 2009 at 6:12 PM

    It's just me, but I think the painting far exceeds the poem. She lost me with the trinity stuff.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2009 at 6:29 PM

    I love bats! Happy Valentine'sDay a bit early! XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2009 at 10:24 AM

    How much of our life do we spend chasing what evades us rather than being still and listening?

    ReplyDelete
  8. modyMarch 1, 2009 at 7:44 PM

    Perhaps the Mouse' husband needs a job with the Detroit Tigers. It couldn't hurt.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

Popular posts from this blog

10 Things I Love That Start With the Letter E

-
Image
Game imported from Sweet Annie at Blissful Bohemian . Name ten things you love that begin with a specific letter. In my case, the letter E. So here goes: 1. Well, first of all there's elephants . Who doesn't love those cute little faces?? And what's not to love? Elephants are actually a lot like humans. They laugh and cry. They grieve over their dead. They play games with each other and have fantastic memories so they can even remember the rules and not go to bed mad. 2. Then there's Engelbert Humperdinck, who I don't actually love and his singing's just on this side of okay, but I do love his name. 3. I luuuuuuv eggs , deviled. Nothing fancy, just classic. Best Basic Deviled Eggs 6 eggs, hard cooked and peeled 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon yellow mustard 3/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar pinch of salt (optional) fresh ground black pepper (optional) smoked paprika (optional) Cut eggs in half. Arrange egg whites cut side up on a serving plate and put the yolks
Read more

The Poet Goes to Indiana by Mary Oliver

-
Image
I'll tell you a half-dozen things that happened to me in Indiana when I went that far west to teach. You tell me if it was worth it. I lived in the country with my dog— part of the bargain of coming. And there was a pond with fish from, I think, China. I felt them sometimes against my feet. Also, they crept out of the pond, along its edges, to eat the grass. I'm not lying. And I saw coyotes, two of them, at dawn, running over the seemingly unenclosed fields. And once a deer, but a buck, thick-necked, leaped into the road just-oh, I mean just, in front of my car— and we both made it home safe. And once the blacksmith came to care for the four horses, or the three horses that belonged to the owner of the house, and I bargained with him, if I could catch the fourth, he, too, would have hooves trimmed for the Indiana winter, and apples did it, and a rope over the neck did it, so I won something wonderful; and there was, one morning, an owl flying, oh pale angel, into the hay loft o
Read more

A Year with EB White

-
Image
"You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that."----- from Charlotte's Web I am a soul always drawn and fascinated by the idea of " A Year of...". A Year of Rumi. A Year of Calvin and Hobbes. A year cooking with Julia Child. A project that provides guidance for the year and a ruler we can measure inward growth in the course of our circle around the sun. One year, after an early marriage and an unsurprising--except to me--early divorce, I came across a book by Sue Hubbell titled A Country Year. I didn't plan for it to take a year to read, but it did. I only read it at night before I went t
Read more