"Poems, Prayers, & Promises" #11

Featuring Toyohiko Kagawa and Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Aug 15, 2023

Welcome to another day of “Poems, Prayers, & Promises”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

Enter the music

Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading the poem, perhaps with your eyes closed.

1×

0:00

-1:02

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published


A PRAYER
Toyohiko Kagawa
Translated from the Japanese by Lois Erickson

I want to be ever a child.
I want to feel an eternal friendship
for the raindrops, the flowers,
the insects, the snowflakes.
I want to be keenly interested in everything,
with mind and muscle ever alert,
forgetting my troubles in the next moment.
The stars and the sea, the ponds and the trees,
the birds and the animals, are my comrades.
Though my muscles may stiffen, though my skin may
wrinkle, may I never find myself yawning
at life.


(from Songs of the Slums, 1935)

Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

What would it mean to you to pray, as does the speaker of this poem, “to be ever a child”? List some of the characteristics you would have if you were to live more that way.
What makes you “yawn at life”? What would it mean to “never find yourself yawning”?
How child-like (in the way described by Kagawa) do you feel? What obstacles do you experience in trying to live that way?
Do you tend to “forget your troubles” or carry them with you at all times? How does your practice of prayer affect how you relate to your troubles?
Does your consideration of this poem move you to make any kind of promise to yourself or someone else?

Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Here are two options: either leave a comment on this post using the button, or join the chat thread dedicated to this Deep Dive. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment or chat.)

Join us on September 5 for “Rafter Refuge”!

6:30-8:00PM Central (7:30 ET, 5:30 MT, 4:30 PT)

Let’s close this Deep Dive with a time of sharing. Come and reflect with other Rafters on “Poems, Prayers, & Promises.” Registration is required for this celebration.