DAY 57 (July 6th, 2017)
The Last Invocation
At the last, tenderly,
From the walls of the powerful fortress’d house,
From the clasp of the knitted locks, from the keep of the well-closed doors,
Let me be wafted.
Let me glide noiselessly forth;
With the key of softness unlock the locks–with a whisper,
Set open the doors O soul.
Tenderly—be not impatient,
(Strong is your hold, O mortal flesh,
Strong is your hold O love.)
DAY 57 (July 7th, 2017)
Requiescat
Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.
Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone,
She is at rest.
Peace, peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
My Commentary
I’ve combined these two into a single poem
TODAY I SAW A HAWK
Today I saw a hawk
pluck a baby sparrow from its nest.
The tiny bird screeched
and the screech echoed through the hills
and filled my heart with sorrow.
God is sometimes like a hawk—
an inscrutable, pitiless predator.
God has given us law, morality, and justice,
but does not himself abide by them.
And yet there is love
even in surrender to incomprehension.
To admit helplessness
in the face of this beautiful, terrible world
is to be human
and mortal.
The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.
I started this 100 Day Project on May 11th. My project is to read a poem, and write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by that poem. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project/
Enjoy!