Sunday Morning

go to
some foreign place,
Juarez, say,
in Mexico,
and listen
to a large woman,
a powerful
laughing mother,
talk about
her children
crawling bare assed
on the dirt floor,
and about the way
roses grow
trellised on
an adobe wall,

and then
try to write it down
in a letter to a friend,
in English –
try to catch
the words
as she said them

until you recognize
there is no way
– no way at all –
to do it

except to take
your friend by the hand,
returning to Juarez,
and go to the woman,
the laughing woman,
and yes,
humbly,
listen
with awe.

Arthur Powers, “If You Would Read the Bible” from EchotheoReview


Notes: Poem Source – 3quarksdaily.com. Photo: George Marks

Comments

  1. Beautiful poem on a Sunday morning David and such a cute darling

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Beautiful for a Sunday morning, Thankyou x love barbara x

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I’m there – in Juarez, captured by delight.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Awe is one of those words we’ve mostly misplaced. Maybe it’s just misplaced in North America but alive and well in Juarez. A photograph of my six-week old grandson Calvin smiling in the arms of his mother yesterday reminds me this morning that some things cross all walls. Thank you for sharing this, David.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Reblogged this on Views from the Edge and commented:
    David Kanigan’s lovely post of Arthur Powers’ poem and the picture of the infant alligned this morning with the photograph of my grandson Calvin smiling with his mother north of the border.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Is it the passion enflamed by love that we most respond to? The beauty of something described in one’s original tongue? The raw immediacy of a moment that, once passed, will never come again? Love this, pal. Happy Sunday…may you make a beautiful memory today….

    Liked by 1 person

  7. i love, love this and am a sucker for babies and their mamas

    Liked by 1 person

  8. So true…

    Liked by 1 person

  9. ..brings tears to my eyes…how lovely!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. What a wonderful place to land ❤️

    Liked by 1 person

  11. That Juarez mama is living a rich life. On so many levels.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Had a full ‘singing’ (choral) day and therefore, ‘Sunday’ has, for once, escaped me – Luckily I can come back on this very early Wednesday night/morning and delight myself – feed my heart with this ‘delicious’ baby (yours?) and those magic words. Thank You David – this is, as so often, food for the soul too. Me living, as a white person, together in a huge city with its melting pot of all nationalities, beliefs, colours, opinions and having visited Mexico (when a white, blonde woman was not a sight to be seen often), this speaks to me on so many levels.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Sorry, obviously NOT YOUR baby…. 🙂 Should go bck to bed…. This was written at way before get-up time here in France

    Liked by 1 person

  14. that was lovely ……. thank you for sharing David

    Liked by 1 person

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