Labor Day

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Mary Oliver’s poems so often speak to my heart at the time that I need it most.  On this Labor Day, as I ponder the violence, injustice and oppression that are so rampant in our world, this poem speaks to my heart of my hope. 

Song of the Builders

On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God -

a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope

it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.

Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early (2004)

What speaks to your heart?
What is it you hope for?

Mary Ann Nelson, OP

Madison, WI

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