Let Evening Come

I suppose every mother of a student and every spouse of an educator hopes for a gentle start into the school year. Some beginnings are easier than others. For us, this year, the first few days and weeks have been particularly challenging and, yes, discouraging.

Today I was reminded of a long loved poem. As I savored the words and imagery it resonated with my weary spirit. On this evening, an evening that has blessedly come after a busy day, I exhale and am thankful to have been given an encouraging day.

Let Evening Come
by Jane Kenyon

Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don't
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.