Poetry Friday: "Advent" by Thomas Merton

I've shared this one several times before, but it's so lovely, so peaceful, and brings me such December joy that I decided to share it again as we near the end of a year that has been full of much that is not-lovely, not-peaceful, not-full-of-joy. 

Enjoy this bit of respite, friends. 

Advent
by Thomas Merton

Charm with your stainlessness these winter nights,
Skies, and be perfect! Fly, vivider in the fiery dark, you quiet meteors,
And disappear.
You moon, be slow to go down,
This is your full!

The four white roads make off in silence
Towards the four parts of the starry universe.
Time falls like manna at the corners of the wintry earth.
We have become more humble than the rocks,
More wakeful than the patient hills.

....

(Read the rest here.) 

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Lovely, peaceful, and full-of-joy host Michelle Kogan has the Poetry Friday round-up this week. 

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Poetry Friday: "Putting in a Window" by John Brantingham

This poem reads like an instruction for life. It also makes a terrific prompt, doesn't it? What's another craft or skill that, mindfully executed, becomes a master class in living? 

On another note, how is it already mid-December? 

Putting in a Window
by John Brantingham


Carpentry has a rhythm that should never
be violated. You need to move slowly,
methodically, never trying to finish early,
never even hoping that you'd be done sooner.
It's best if you work without thought of the
end. If hurried, you end up with crooked
door joints and drafty rooms. Do not work
after you are annoyed just so the job
will be done more quickly. Stop when you
begin to curse at the wood. Putting in

....

(Read the rest here.)

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Wise and wonderful Linda Mitchell has the round-up this week at A Word Edgewise. 

Photo courtesy of StockSnap at Pixabay.