Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Anya SilverApril 28, 2008

Be praised, my Lord,for the washing machine,whose swingle flails the soiled and stained.
And he ministers to the splot, the blotch, the spattered cuff.
Be praised, my Lord,for your spirit that comes upon him,for his jump and whirl and jug jug jug.
(My infant son slept on his shaking back.The meek love him and cling to his sides.)
For the flange, which shakes the floorboards,sends the cat beneath the bed.
Be praised, my Lord, for the agitator,through whose pivot and plunge into tubmany of the most smudged are cleaned.
Be praised, my Lord, for the delicate cycle,in which lace and wool can be soaked.
Blessed is the soapy breaththat sweetens each room of my house.
Praise and bless the Lord, whose will is done by these God’s servants:
wringer, pulley, drum.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024