[The housewife’s] life looks as if she were going around in circles. And why not? What other way is there to go, ultimately? The longest trip that we can set out upon (until we learn our way into outer-space) is to go around the world. And in time, we go around the year—spring, summer, autumn, winter. Within that larger cycle of time is the daily one—early morning, high noon, sundown, night. Each new day can bring redemption for us, even as each springtime brings renewal for tree and flower and grass.
Old earth is a sphere that travels around the sun, as the moon in its orbit travels around our earth. The very course of blood through our veins and arteries is known as the circulatory system. The emblem of divinity is a halo. Why disparage going around in circles? Any other route suggests imbalance, a jumping-off place, an abyss. Perhaps the hen’s pace is a wholesome one in rhythm with the universe.
—Josephine Moffett Benton, The Pace of a Hen: Fulfillment for a Housewife
• a young hen among the nasturtiums in my garden •
June 28, 2013
HEN’S PACE {Benton}