'Best of any song'

 I’ve been thinking about poems that are in memory, in me.

Charles Reznikoff’s “After I had worked all day” is an example I’ve mentioned before.

Several of the lines that wander around in my mind, appearing at odd moments, come from Wendell Berry. My favorite is too short to summarize. Here it is:

            Best of any song

            is bird song

            in the quiet, but first

            you must have the quiet.

On most days, it’s a reminder that a human being needs a little quiet in each day. It’s a need, like food, water and rest. Most of the time I hear the poem as if it were spoken by a wise teacher, a friend who can be trusted to guide. 

But sometimes life can seem overwhelming. On one such day, I heard the poem in the voice of a person lamenting, grieving for quiet that wasn’t there.

• Sources: Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems, 1979-1997; Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint Press, 1999. For a note on Reznikoff’s poem, see “For poets and artists who have a day job,” Dec. 4, 2021.