The emotional recordings of poetry

“A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language, that can only be patched together and hinted at metaphorically.” – Diane Ackerman

Poet, essayist, and naturalist – known for her wide-ranging curiosity and poetic explorations of the natural world –Ackerman born on Oct. 7, 1948, and makes her home in Ithaca, NY.   Among her best-known poetic works is the collection Jaguar of My Destroyer: New and Collected Poems.      Also known for her study of (and essays on) the senses, she said she is fascinated by how they affect people’s lives.  “We live on the leash of our senses,” she said.   For Saturday’s poem, here is Ackerman’s,

School Prayer

In the name of the daybreak
and the eyelids of morning
and the wayfaring moon
and the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.

In the name of the sun and its mirrors
and the day that embraces it
and the cloud veils drawn over it
and the uttermost night
and the male and the female
and the plants bursting with seed
and the crowning seasons
of the firefly and the apple,

I will honor all life
—wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell—on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.

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