On a visit to the river yesterday for a sit and a think, I saw a Yellow-throated Warbler, and I was reminded of this beautiful snippet from Wendell Berry (not as beautiful as the warbler though, and I am sure Mr. Berry would agree):
"The yellow-throated warbler, the highest remotest voice of this place, sings in the tops of the tallest sycamores, but one day he came twice to the railing of my porch where I sat at work above the river. He was too close to see with binoculars. Only the naked eye could take him in, a bird more beautiful than every picture of himself, more beautiful than himself killed and preserved by the most skilled taxidermist, more beautiful than an human mind, so small and inexact, could hope ever to remember. My mind became beautiful at the sight of him. He had the beauty only of himself alive in the only moment of his life. He had upon him like a light the whole beauty of the living world that never dies." --Wendell Berry
Nice Berry quote…and true in that such beauty lies unsurpassed in the being rather than any lesser form of communication.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Grizzled. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Berry to say something we all think and can't come close to putting into words half as well as he can.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn H.
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteAin't it the truth. That's why I love him. Good to see you here. I need to get over to Roundtop Ruminations.
Peace
My daughter (almost three years old) begged me to let her bring my copy of Berry's Collected Poems with her for the car ride this morning. She said, "Mommy, puweeze let me bring it? It's my next favorite book."
ReplyDeleteNext favorite means it comes in third place after Webster's Dictionary and the Tao Te Ching. I'm not going to argue with her but I, for one, think Berry should be placed at the top of the list... Don't get me wrong, Webster and Lao Tzu are great writers but I think Webster uses a few too many words and Tzu probably doesn't use enough. Berry gets it just right.
I'm looking forward to reading more Berry here... keep it coming! And, when she's old enough to actually read, I'm looking forward to hearing what Meggie thinks about good 'ol Wendell too. If she's anything like here mama, she's going to be a big fan...
: )
It sounds like she may already be a LOT like her mama.
ReplyDeleteVery cool. :)
What a beautiful, freeing quote.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Wonderful quotation.
ReplyDeleteGlad. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks wilsonian and SW.