Photos II

Writing

Do not be ashamed by Wendell Berry

You will be walking some night / in the comfortable dark of your yard
and suddenly a great light will shine / round about you, and behind you / will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly / that you were about to escape, /and that you are guilty: you misread
the complex instructions, you are not / a member, you lost your card / or never had one. And you will know
that they have been there all along, / their eyes on your letters and books, / their hands in your pockets,
their ears wired to your bed.
Though you have done nothing shameful, / they will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep / and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed, /reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made / in your history will leave you.
They will no longer need to pursue you. / You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you. / There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them, / only an inward clarity, unashamed, / that they cannot reach. Be ready.
When their light has picked you out / and their questions are asked, say to them:
“I am not ashamed.” A sure horizon / will come around you. The heron will begin / his evening flight from the hilltop.