“We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.” -Jack Gilbert

With so much going on in the world that arouses a sense of sorrow, outrage, despair, and hopelessness, Jack Gilbert’s poem below is a welcome reminder that despite all that (and right in the midst of it) good is going on as well: beauty, laughter, love, and the miracle of life unfolding with every sunrise. We must grab hold of the good with both hands and not let go.

A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.

–by Jack Gilbert

[I could not find a credit for the delightful photo featured here that I found on Pinterest]

---

When Things Go Missing

“When Things Go Missing is a beautiful unfolding – a tender, loving portrait of a family contending with grief, loss, and regret, while fully embracing all the joy that life can hold.” Valorie Grace Hallinan, Books Can Save A Life

Buy now at Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, and other major outlets.