THE FUTURE
For God's sake, be done
with this jabber of “a better world.”
What blasphemy! No “futuristic”
twit or child thereof ever
in embodied light will see
a better world than this, though they
foretell inevitably a worse.
Do something! Go cut the weeds
beside the oblivious road. Pick up
the cans and bottles, old tires,
and dead predictions. No future
can be stuffed into this presence
except by being dead. The day is
clear and bright, and overhead
the sun not yet half finished
with his daily praise.
— Wendell Berry
A Kentucky farmer and writer, and perhaps the greatest moral essayist of our day.” is how the New York Review of Books characterizes Wendell Berry. This poem is from Berry's new book, Given, Shoemaker Hoard
Mr. Berry is the author of more than 40 books of essays, novels and poetry. His novel, Hannah Coulter, shows rich characterization and Berry's ability to capture with great love the enduring ties of family and community.
Service to others is the rent we pay to live on this planet.
~ Marian Wright Edelman
Uni-verse
