The Real Work

I clipped this quote nearly two months ago with the sole intent of posting it here. I have kept it close to me ever since, but I am truly only now beginning to internalize it. I cannot remember where I found it, never realized that I only had the first half of the poem, and did not even know who wrote it (Wendell Berry) until I googled it tonight…

If you know me well (or even at all), you will no doubt recognize that the first two lines parallel a line of my thinking that goes back many years. See my first ‘resume’ for one, or the brilliance of my old neighbor Michael, or my lengthy post on Hermann Hesse, and so many more.

Given that, you can imagine my surprise when I read the last half of this poem for the very first time tonight. I could spend a lifetime with those two simple statements, in fact it often feels as though I already have.

Here it is in its entirety…

The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

- Wendell Berry

There is a quiet but potent power in these words. It is not an expression of raw power, nor does it need to be. It is simply an acknowledgment of its existence, and from it flows the patience and persistence to ~~break~~ be free.

Or something like that.

Regardless, it fits me and my life at the moment, and I couldn’t be happier at the thought. Life is really good right now, if a bit uncertain, but more promising than I ever thought possible a year ago. I have so much to learn still, so much to earn too, but I cannot wait to get started.

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