Wendell Berry




A Warning to my Readers

          Do not think me gentle
          because I speak in praise
          of gentleness, or elegant
          because I honor the grace
          that keeps this world. I am
          a man crude as any,
          gross of speech, intolerant,
          stubborn, angry, full
          of fists and furies. That I
          may have spoken well
          at times, is not natural.
          A wonder is what it is.