Practice Resurrection – My Favorite Poem by Wendell Berry

The ‘Mad Farmer’ Poem by Wendell Berry is one of my favorite poems. There is a beautiful cycling path near the place were I live, with tall, beautiful trees lined up along the long, narrow path. But some time ago they decided to cut the trees down because of safety hazards. It was very sad to see the whole path transform. Yet, one day, as I cycled along the deserted path I saw one tree, by itself, still standing, a little sad, some of its branches were cut, but still tall and proud. The scene reminded me of the mad farmer poem and I made a painting about it. 

Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion — put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

From: The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry