Wendell Berry

[Stormy]

Let Us Pledge
Let us pledge allegiance to the flag
and to the national sacrifice areas
for which it stands, garbage dumps
and empty holes, sold out for a higher
spire on the rich church, the safety
of voyagers in golf carts, the better mood
of the stock market. Let us feast
today, though tomorrow we starve. Let us
gorge upon the body of the Lord, consuming
the earth for our greater joy in Heaven,
the fair Vactionland. Let us wander forever
in the labyrinths of our self-esteem.
Let us evolve forever toward the higher
consciousness of the machine.
The spool of our engine-driven fate
unwinds, our history now outspeeding
thought, and the heart is a beatable tool.

A Difference
Machines pass on the road, so heavy
that the leaves of the young birch
spreading in stillness, shake.

But on the river, slow waves
roll under quick waves,
causing the reflections of the trees
to ripple and to sway.