In her talk about her documentary on Wendell Berry entitled, Look and See, Laura Dunn records Wendell Berry who says, “We all come from divorce. This is an age of divorce. Things that belong together have been taken apart. And you can’t put it all back together again. What you can do, is the only thing that you can do. You take two things that ought to be together and you put them together. Two things! Not all things.”

Here’s an attempt to internalize and express his words and sentiments with my own thoughts. All the credit goes to him; all the blame, to me.

A poem about all you can do. In sonnet form, of course.

We all come from divorce:
One is torn from the arms of their mother
Another steals their share from the father
The elder hates the younger brother,
We are cursed, cursing, coarse.

We live in an age of divorce:
When that which was once united together
Is now bisected, cut, ripped asunder—
With greed we grab beauty and wonder
No waiting, just taking by force.

You cannot put it all right;
All you can do, the only thing
You can do, is take in hand what you bring
And put it with what you think is missing.

© Randall Edwards 2019.
This sonnet is for Christ’s church. If it is helpful, please feel free to copy or reprint in church bulletins, read aloud, or repost. I only ask that an attribution be cited to myself (Randall Edwards) and this blog (backwardmutters.com). Thank you.
artwork: original linoleum print by © Randall Edwards 2019.