Perhaps the World Ends Here
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table.
So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it.
Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human.
We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children.
They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves
and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table, and
have prepared our parents for burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow.
We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table,
while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
--Joy Harjo, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States
This is a year where we have sat with empty seats around our respective tables. Whether we are mourning the loss of loved ones who have departed this life or separated due to the Pandemic, empty seats mark this year in a way we haven’t felt for generations.
The table, as Joy Harjo reminds us, remains. “No matter what, we must eat to live” Harjo writes, reminding us of a symbol that unites and centers us through the joys and sorrows of life.
As we rebuild this country, rebound from so many losses, and rediscover ways to unify, rather than divide, may we remember the gathering places that bring us together, that remind us of our common humanity. Though we dream of the day when our tables will be full and we’ll sit shoulder to shoulder again, may Joy Harjo’s poem feed you with strength and hope, until we “we put ourselves back together once again at the table.”
--The Rev. Katie Solter
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