Noon Rest — Marilyn McEntyre

"This is the prayer of trust: what’s left undone will wait."

For more articles, videos, books, and resources about faith and art, visit RabbitRoom.com

---

Noon Rest (after Millet: 1890)

by Marilyn McEntyre

To rest before the sheaves are bound,
toss the scythes aside, bare the feet and sink
into the nearest haystack, release
the undone task and consent to sleep
while the brightest hour burns an arc
across its stretch of sky:
this is the body’s prayer, mid-day angelus
whispered in mingled breath while the limbs
stretch in thanksgiving and the body turns
toward the beloved.

This is the prayer of trust:
what’s left undone will wait. The unattended
child, the uncut acre, cracked wheel, broken
fence that are occupations of the waking mind
soften into shadow in the semi-darkness
of dream. All shall be well. Little depends on us.
The turning world is held and borne in love.
We give good measure in our toil and, meet and right,
obey the body when it calls us to rest.

from “The Color of Light: Poems on Van Gogh’s Late Paintings” (2007)

---

Marilyn McEntyre has spent many years teaching American literature, Medical Humanities, and a variety of writing courses. She’s recently left full-time teaching to spend more time writing. She is the author of 14 books, which include Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, Make a List, Word by Word, and A Long Letting Go. On her website, she writes that her deepest interests lie in connections between spirituality, language, healing earth and each other. You can learn more about her work at www.marilynmcentyre.com.