Be a Good Steward of Your Gifts

Feed your inner life.

Protect your time.

Avoid too much noise.

Read good books.

Have good sentences in your ears.

Be by yourself as often as you can.

Walk.

Take the phone off the hook.

Work regular hours.

–from A Hundred White Daffodils: Essays, Interviews, The Akhmatova Translations, Newspaper Columns, and One Poem by Jane Kenyon

As I was writing this out, it started to look like a year’s resolution–almost one focus for each month.  We could circle back to read good books and have good sentences in your ears for another month!  This whole collection just shines with Kenyon’s wit and voice and eye.

Also not to be missed Bill Moyers interviewing Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall.  The complete interview is well worth your time and available in A Hundred White Daffodils.  But it’s amazing to see and hear them singing hymns and giving readings, to see her wry smile.

And I can’t find an audio recording of “Let Evening Come” but it’s been singing to me these last few weeks.

16 Comments

  1. I love Jane Kenyon, and A Hundred White Daffodils is a book I treasure – love seeing these lines today. Wise Jane Kenyon.

    1. I had seen the Louise Erdrich/Michael Dorris interview years ago and searched in vain for the Kenyon/Hall interview. Then it showed up on line. I was so happy!

  2. This is a new collection to me, so thank you Kortney. I love “Have good sentences in your ears.” Being outside is something I treasure even when it’s cold! Have a lovely weekend!

  3. Thanks for the link to the video, Kortney. I enjoyed watching Bill Moyers Language of Life series when it was on PBS years ago. Is this from that series?

Leave a Reply