the threshers

.

There's no use whining over lost worlds.

The old chicken never picks up the last grains,

And the threshers usually go home when night comes.

Have we thanked the sun for shining so well?

Have we blessed the clouds for their thoughtfulness?

Have we thanked the rain that falls on the fields?

It would be good to go back a hundred years,

And recite some of Wordsworth's sonnets to him.

But it's probable best to let him go on walking.

Let's just agree we're on our own now,

And that we have to wash our own pajamas,

And figure out some way to get home.

We can still tell stories about the Dillinger boys,

And we can still buy balloons for our children,

But it will be hard to make up The Book of Hours.

We know that most lost fathers never return,

And the clocks run only one way,

And the threshers always go home when night comes.

~ Robert Bly

from Talking into the Ear of a Donkey

art by van gogh