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Illustration by Zuzana Kubišová ’17

Here in the Vineyard of Provision

by Mary Greer, MEd ’84

The morning
floats up faint
with pale fog,

luminous rising
in first sun
flashed up
beyond the eastern
field.

Here there is no war.

We are never
grateful enough
for the world so quiet
we think ourselves
alone on earth;

or for the stillness
of all the yellow leaves

or the horses gazing
over the fence. 

Poet: Mary Greer, MEd ’84
Shalersville Township, Portage County, Ohio

“With the global threat of climate crisis, I wanted to affirm our ability to rise to this challenge, to make things right, to overcome the mess we have made ourselves. The Odyssey came to mind. I have taught it many times to high school students, but I never totally understood how passionate Odysseus was to get home until now. It’s how I feel as an activist. 

“Odysseus’s long, painful journey home is not quite finished when he washes up on the shore of Phaiacia—an island where trees always bloom, fruit is always ripe. His peaceful pause on that magic island seems to relate to the life we often live here, in the bubble of peace and quiet, no wars at our doorstep. This is the moment we can find ourselves in, every day—the pause wherein we are simply alive.” 

Back to Spring 2017