Earlier today Mish included several lines from this poem. In case you are interested in the rest of it as it was included in "The Writer's Almanac" for May 19, 2017:
Ode to the Joyful Ones
by Thomas Lux
Shield your joyful ones.
—from an Anglican prayer
That they walk, even stumble, among us is reason
to praise them, or protect them—even the sound
of a lead slug dropped on a lead plate, even that, for them,
is music. Because they bring laughter’s
brief amnesia. Because they stand,
talking, taking pleasure in others,
with their hands on the shoulders of strangers
and the shoulders of each other.
Because you don’t have to tell them to walk toward the light.
Because if there are two pork chops
they will serve you the better one.
Because they will give you the crutch off their backs.
Because when there are two of them together
their shining fills the room.
Because you don’t have to tell them to walk toward the light.
"Ode to the Joyful Ones" by Thomas Lux from To the Left of Time. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.
