When I first read this poem, I could feel the pear in my hand. I touched the burro's ears with happiness. I could see the kindly monk who would occasionally drop by. I find this to be a humbling reminder that it matters how we treat the world. It matters what we plant and what we eat. It matters what we buy and what we throw away. Who and what we care for. What work we ask our fellow creatures (including humans) to do day in and day out. It matters how we tend to our souls because that is how we tend to all.
Our bee population is having to carry their burdens further and further because we forget to create way stations for them. Plant something, and herbs will do nicely, to lessen the distance the little bee must travel. Put some stones in your bird baths so they can pause and take a drink. Even these simple steps will help us all taste the sacredness of a really good pear.
Love Does That
All day long a little burro labors, sometimes
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.
And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.
Once in awhile a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more than that,
he looks into the burro's eyes and touches her ears
and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,
because love does
that.
Love frees.
Meister Eckart, translated by Daniel Ladinsky in Love Poems from God
photograph: San Leandro, March 2021
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