Andrew Lustig

The Owl is Wise:

because he is a monk on a high pew

cooing lauds to the gray morning;

because he knows the sun is rising soon

and that waiting is already worship;

because he does not rush things

but offers stillness as an act of devotion;

because he turns his head in an arc of intention,

watching the twilight through slow blinking eyes;

because he does not find hope necessary

nor fortitude a virtue;

because he does not need to stay or go,

but only to live faithfully in time.

Andrew Lustig is the Holmes Rolston III Chair in Religion and Science emeritus at Davidson College. Earlier appointments included professorships at Rice University and the Texas Medical Center, along with experience in the trenches of New York politics as staff ethicist for Governor Mario Cuomo’s Task Force on Life and the Law. As a recovering academic, he now finds solace in sharing a backlog of works without footnotes, including poetry and original music.