Out in the Fields With God
The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday,
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play,
Among the lowing of the herds,
The rusting of the trees,
Among the singing birds,
The humming of the bees.
The foolish fears of what might pass,
I cast them all away,
Among the clover scented grass,
Among the new mown hay,
Among the hushing of the corn,
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born--
Out in the fields with God.
--Louise Imogen Guiney
Martha Alexander's Poems and Prayers For The Very Young
I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I remember stumbling across this poem as a young mother when I was very down and stressed about something. And I suddenly had a moment of clarity--the things I was stressing about, put in the proper perspective, were not as important as they seemed in my small, quiet life. I have noticed, transitioning from a ten year stint as a stay at home mother to a working mother, how much less I stress about things that really bothered me then. I didn't have.... well the exposure to real life that tempers my obsessive nature. I was so focused on my own life that I forgot how busy everyone else is living their own lives. They really aren't watching me and evaluating everything I do.
This won't work for everyone, and there are some problems big enough to obliterate any view of the outside world. But for me, it works. It has worked from the days of walking cows to the pasture, past the creek, under the trees, and through the mud; the days of following windrows of hay around a field on a big, tractor with nothing but my thoughts for company. It is a big old world out there full of beautiful things--big enough to dwarf my small concerns and beautiful enough to fill me with peace.
Thanks for sharing your story. We shared this poem at my father's funeral in 2001. He was a true dairy farmer and he enjoyed his life "out in the fields with God"
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