by Thomas Lux<\/p>\n
His job is honest and simple: keeping –Read at St. Lydia’s on September 30, 2012<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Thomas Lux His job is honest and simple: keeping the forest tidy. He replaces, after repairing, the nests on their branches, he points every pine north, polishes the owl\u2019s stained perch, feather-dusts the entrance to the weasel\u2019s burrow, soft-brushes each chipmunk (the chinchilla of the forest banal), buffs antlers, gives sympathy to ragweed, tries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1855,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854\/revisions\/1855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nthe forest tidy. He replaces,
\nafter repairing, the nests
\non their branches, he points every pine north,
\npolishes the owl\u2019s stained perch,
\nfeather-dusts the entrance
\nto the weasel\u2019s burrow, soft-brushes
\neach chipmunk (the chinchilla
\nof the forest banal), buffs antlers, gives
\nsympathy to ragweed, tries to convince\u2014
\nlike a paternal and inept psychiatrist\u2014
\nthe lowly garter snake to think
\nof himself, as he parts the grass,
\nas an actor parting the stage curtain
\nto wild applause, arranges, in the clearing,
\nthe great beams of light\u2026This is his job: a day\u2019s,
\na week\u2019s, a life\u2019s calm, continuous,
\nlow-paying devotion. At dawn
\nhe makes a few sandwiches and goes
\nto work. I love this<\/em>, he thinks as he passes
\nthe wild watercress\u2014its green as stunning
\nas surviving a plane crash\u2014in the small,
\ninaccessible swamp.<\/p>\n