Look Out
Berry, Wendell
Poem Look Out Come to the window, look out, and see the valley turning green in remembrance of all springs past and to come, the woods perfecting with immortal patience the leaves that are the...
...Say no by saying yes to the air, to the earth, to the trees, yes to the grasses, to the rivers, to the birds and the animals and every living thing, yes to the small houses, yes to the children...
...Their intention to destroy any place is solidly founded upon their willingness to destroy every place...
...Go together, go alone...
...Wendell Berry Wendell Berry is a writer and a farmer in Port Royal, Kentucky...
...Their greed is the hatred of mercy...
...Poem Look Out Come to the window, look out, and see the valley turning green in remembrance of all springs past and to come, the woods perfecting with immortal patience the leaves that are the work of all of time, the sycamore whose white limbs shed the history of a man's life with their old bark, the river quivering under the morning's breath like the touched skin of a horse, and you will see also the shadow cast upon it by fire, the war that lights its way by burning the earth...
...Their pockets jingle with the small change of the poor...
...Say no to the Lords of War which is Money which is Fire...
...They are little men grown great by willingness to drive whatever exists into its perfect absence...
...You will see that your place, wherever it is, your house, your garden, your shop, your forest, your farm, bears the shadow of its destruction by war which is the economy of greed which is plunder which is the economy of wrath which is fire...
...Leave your windows and go out, people of the world, go into the streets, go into the fields, go into the woods and along the streams...
...His latest novel is "Hannah Coulter," and the poem on this page is from "Given," his upcoming collection of poems...
...The Lords of War sell the earth to buy fire, they sell the water and air of life to buy fire...
...They have no mercy...
...Having hate, they can have no mercy...
...Their power is the willingness to destroy everything for knowledge which is money which is power which is victory which is ashes sown by the wind...
...Every household of the world is at their mercy, the households of the farmer and the otter and the owl are at their mercy...
...Come to your windows, people of the world, look out at whatever you see wherever you are, and you will see dancing upon it that shadow...
Vol. 69 • June 2005 • No. 6
