<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px;" class=""><font color="#202020" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">A Purification</span></font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); line-height: 24px; caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">At start of spring I open a trench<br class="">in the ground. I put into it<br class="">the winter's accumulation of paper,<br class="">pages I do not want to read<br class="">again, useless words, fragments,<br class="">errors. And I put into it<br class="">the contents of the outhouse:<br class="">light of the sun, growth of the ground,<br class="">finished with one of their journeys.<br class="">To the sky, to the wind, then,<br class="">and to the faithful trees, I confess<br class="">my sins: that I have not been happy<br class="">enough, considering my good luck;<br class="">have listened to too much noise;<br class="">have been inattentive to wonders;<br class="">have lusted after praise.<br class="">And then upon the gathered refuse<br class="">of mind and body, I close the trench,<br class="">folding shut again the dark,<br class="">the deathless earth. Beneath that seal<br class="">the old escapes into the new.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Wendell Berry</div></div></body></html>