‘Some’, by Daniel Berrigan

To the Plowshares 8, with love.

Some stood up once, and sat down.
Some walked a mile, and walked away.

Some stood up twice, then sat down.
“It’s too much,” they cried.
Some walked two miles, then walked away.
“I’ve had it,” they cried,

Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools,
they were taken for being taken in.

Some walked and walked and walked –
they walked the earth,
they walked the waters,
they walked the air.

“Why do you stand?” they were asked, and
“Why do you walk?”

“Because of the children,” they said, and
“Because of the heart, and
“Because of the bread,”

“Because the cause is
the heart’s beat, and
the children born, and
the risen bread.”

– Daniel Berrigan [HT: Anthony Dancer]

2 comments

  1. Lovely Jason.

    If I may contribute. The final stanza of “The Albatross” by Charles Baudelaire

    The Poet is like this monarch of the clouds,
    Familiar of storms, of stars, and of all high things;
    Exiled on earth amidst its hooting crowds,
    He cannot walk, borne down by giant wings.

    Like

  2. Dan Berrigan is a saint and a gift; this poem is a fitting summary of his life. I am so happy to have known him, even if long ago, to have had him as a dinner guest at our table; and I feel so inadequate to have shown so little response to his example.

    Like

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