The man at the table across from mine is eating yogurt. His eyes, following the progress of the spoon, cross briefly each time it nears his face. Time, and the world with all its principalities, might come to an end as prophesied by the Apostle John, but what about this man, so completely present to the little carton with its cool, sweet food, which has caused no animal to suffer, and which he is eating with a pearl-white plastic spoon.
Jane Kenyon, "Man Eating" from Collected Poems. Copyright © 2005 by the Estate of Jane Kenyon. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Graywolf Press, graywolfpress.org.