Thursday, October 30, 2008

God Watching Day 30

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now." Matthew 6:34a The Message

My friend D read this wonderful poem at the closing prayer service at Diocesan Convention this weekend. Since I don't seem to have much to say tonight, I'd thought I'd share it with you.

Famous
by Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

2 comments:

Choralgrrl said...

Wow, that's kind of wonderful. Thanks, Kate!

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I want to be that kind of famous too.