I rise before the louder day
Has learned to clear its throat,
While dawn still keeps a modest light
And time walks soft of foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kettle knows its ancient part,
The window greets the air,
And breath is drawn, and shoulders set
To meet the hours with care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No trumpet marks the opening act,
No ledger sings my name;
The world begins with warmed-up rooms
And hands put back in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I choose the cloth, I light the fire,
I make the table true;
In such small acts the day is taught
What kindness ought to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The children wake as seedlings do,
Still tangled up with sleep;
I smooth their hair, I fasten coats,
And promises I keep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go forth, I say, though not in words\u2014
The hallways know the spell:
That one may face a jagged world
If first one has been held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When doors are shut and engines fade
And quiet claims its due,
I sit with toast and bitter tea
And think my thinking through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pen goes out, the piano speaks,
The needle learns its way;
I stitch coherence into hours
The world would shred to days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They call this work a lesser thing,
A pause from being real;
As though the heart were not a craft
That must be taught to feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As though the steady hand at home
That tempers grief and cheer
Were not the hand that makes the world
A place one might endure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let others chase the distant prize
And name it high design;
I set the room, I plan the meal,
And shape the days in kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For joy that blooms at once and stays
Needs neither stage nor claim;
It lives where supper\u2019s served with love
And sorrow knows its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the post I did not flee,
The charge I would not trade:
To keep the fragile human heart
From breaking in the shade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If ever such a life seems small
To those who measure wrong,
Let them explain how worlds are made
So quietly, so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For empires fall by grand decree,
And markets rise and end;
But homes endure by humble acts
Repeated, till they mend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I rise before the louder dayHas learned to clear its…<\/p>\n