Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Let Evening Come - Jane Kenyon (1947-1995)



photo by Jazz, age 12
Let Evening Come
Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving up the bales as the sun moves down. Let the cricket take up chafing as a woman takes up her needles and her yarn. Let evening come. Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned in long grass. Let the stars appear and the moon disclose her silver horn. Let the fox go back to its sandy den. Let the wind die down. Let the shed go black inside. Let evening come. To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop in the oats, to air in the lung let evening come. Let it come, as it will, and don't be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless, so let evening come.

by Jane Kenyon

Hear the words set to music by Brian Holmes.

5 comments:

Melissa said...

Beautiful...fits in nicely with all the Mary Oliver poems I've been reading lately. Thanks for posting.

Christina said...

Melissa, I love Mary Oliver! Do you read Chet Raymo's blog, Science Musings? That's where I first learned of her work.

Melissa said...

No, but I'll have a peek! I'm new to Oliver; don't know if I'd have appreciated her work as much when I was younger. Btw, I only just noticed the photo is an original - gorgeous, it makes you feel the stillness.

Unknown said...

Love your site and just gave it the "Irresistably Sweet" Blog award on my site.

Christina said...

Kelly, how nice of you! So glad to have something to post about. : )