Entreaty

ENTREATY

The time is at hand;

the hour is late.

Come, read with me

a little while

these psalms.

Tell me not of other things

to do,

of problems small and large,

chattering with

distracted eyes,

listening to the noise

and commotion

of urgent matters that are

diminished as you talk,

to be replaced by

other crises

beyond the hope

of your concern.

Store up your nervous

flights from here to there

and pour those energies

together in quiet wonder.

Be still in your wandering.

Imagine back to a time

of the beginnings

when the Earth's

great canopy gave shelter.

Think on the constellations,

the seas, the dim-lit land,

and loosen this moment

to all eternity.

Come,

just now,

for a little while.

Vilas, N.C. 1985