A lovely poem

    This morning as a group of my friends and I were sitting around the table about to enjoy breakfast together, our friend asked if he could first share with us a poem that he had read recently. He read to us a poem by Billy Collins titled “Eastern Standard Time,” in which the author expresses a feeling of kinship with those in his same timezone. He wrote of how they do their morning activities together, they awaken at the same time, begin the showers at the same time, take their vitamins at the same time, and so on. He goes on about how everyone else in the world is doing something different (just sitting down to dinner, going dancing, crawling into bed at the end of a long day). Because of this, the rest of the world is either a little bit ahead or a little bit behind.

    Though difficult for me in the morning, I focused on what he was saying, listening to the poem. Soon being mentally present was no longer difficult; I was lost in the poem. In my mind I was picturing everything the author described; I saw individuals waking, getting ready for the day, spreading jam on their toast. Immediately before he began reading, I was worried about my scrambled eggs getting cold. Yet soon after he began, I was totally held fast by the words and forgot about breakfast altogether, let alone its temperature. Realizing after the poem was read, that I had been utterly swept away by its words and rhythm, I was reminded of van der Leeuw’s words on the poet and poetry. I had experienced the fixed power of poetry that van der Leeuw spoke about. Because of this, I desire to introduce more poetry into my life, especially the Psalms. The poet, according to van der Leeuw, receives his song from God and sings back to God. I cannot think of or imagine a more fitting example of this description of a poet than the poet-king of ancient Israel, David.