“There is Nothing Lowly in the Universe”
Throughout the season of Lent, I’ve been beginning my days with a devotional series called “The Lent Project” produced by Biola University’s Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts. Each devotional contains scripture, poetry, a reflection, artwork, and music. I’ve remarked on several occasions that poetry is not my native tongue and that I often struggle to connect with it. But I was moved by this morning’s selection.
***
“Still”
by A.R. Ammons
I said I will find what is lowly
and put the roots of my identity
down there:
each day I’ll wake up
and find the lowly nearby,
a handy focus and reminder,
a ready measure of my significance,
the voice by which I would be heard,
the wills, the kinds of selfishness
I could
freely adopt as my own:
but though I have looked everywhere,
I can find nothing
to give myself to:
everything is
magnificent with existence, is in
surfeit of glory:
nothing is diminished,
nothing has been diminished for me:
I said what is more lowly than the grass:
ah, underneath,
a ground-crust of dry-burnt moss:
I looked at it closely
and said this can be my habitat: but
nestling in I
found
below the brown exterior
green mechanisms beyond the intellect
awaiting resurrection in rain: so I got up
and ran saying there is nothing lowly in the universe:
I found a beggar:
he had stumps for legs: nobody was paying
him any attention: everybody went on by:
I nestled in and found his life:
there, love shook his body like a devastation:
I said
though I have looked everywhere
I can find nothing lowly
in the universe:
I whirled through transfigurations up and down,
transfigurations of size and shape and place:
at one sudden point came still,
stood in wonder:
moss, beggar, weed, tick, pine, self, magnificent
***
About the Art:
Bowing to Him
Lucas Li
Graphite on paper
2014
Ryan, Very profound reminder of God’s magnificent Creation. Thank you Beth
Absorbed with his magnificence
And an idealized view of nature
Someone is rich in electric heating and stature
Never let human tragedy go to waste
Clever indifference
Romanticizing suffering
For tenure and acclaim
May a Tsunami of ticks
descend upon him
with nothing but beggar stumps
to beat them back with