Poem: “Sabbath XII”

If we have become a people incapable

of thought, then the brute-thought

of mere power and mere greed

will think for us.

–

If we have become incapable

of denying ourselves anything,

then all that we have

will be taken from us.

–

If we have no compassion,

we will suffer alone, we will suffer

alone the destruction of ourselves.

–

These are merely the laws of this world

as known to Shakespeare, as known to Milton:

–

When we cease from human thought,

a low and effective cunning

stirs in the most inhuman minds. 

“Sabbath XII” from Leavings: Poems. Copyright © 2010 by Wendell Berry. Reprinted with permission of Counterpoint Press.