Leading from Within

Sam M. Intrator is a professor at Smith College and founder of the Smith College Urban Education Initiative. A Kellogg National Leadership Fellow, he is the author/editor of five books, including Tuned In and Fired Up, Teaching with Fire, and Stories of the Courage to Teach.Megan Scribner is an editor who also documents and evaluates programs for nonprofits. She is the coeditor of Teaching with Fire and coauthor with Parker J. Palmer of The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal, Tenth Anniversary Edition.

• Foreword xvMadeleine K. AlbrightA Note to Our Readers xixSam M. Intrator and Megan ScribnerIntroduction xxvParker J. PalmerCalled 1Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses”reflection by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president, Waterkeeper Alliance 2Emily Dickinson’s “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” [Excerpt]reflection by Nicole Gagnon, college student leader 6Langston Hughes’s “Madam’s Calling Card”reflection by Kyle Dodson, high school principal 8William Stafford’s “The Way It Is”reflection by Michael Intrator, managing director, emissions trading company 10William Carlos Williams’s “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower” [Excerpt]reflection by Peter S. Temes, president, ILO Institute 12Reinhold Niebuhr’s “The Irony of American History” [Excerpt]reflection by Rosemary Jordano Shore, founder, ChildrenFirst 14William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” [Excerpt]reflection by Michael Singleton, director of coaching, Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association 16Gary Snyders’s “For the Children”reflection by Betsy Taylor, founder, Center for the New American Dream 18Theodore Roethke’s “Cuttings (Later)”reflection by Brian D. McLaren, author, speaker, evangelical activist 20T. S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding” [Excerpt]reflection by Kathleen Kostelny, international consultant on children affected by war and violence 22Marge Piercy’s “To be of use”reflection by Martha Bergmark, president, Mississippi Center for Justice 24Eugene McCarthy’s “Ares”reflection by Mary Beth Yarrow, documentary film producer 26Defining Moments 29Adrienne Rich’s “In Those Years”reflection by Peter Karoff, founder and chairman, The Philanthropic Initiative 30Wendell Berry’s “A Vision”reflection by Barbara Hummel, corporate and nonprofit facilitator 32William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29”reflection by Orli Cotel, national publicist, Sierra Club 34Denise Levertov’s “The Avowal”reflection by Craig Dykstra, senior vice president, Lilly Endowment 36Marge Piercy’s “The seven of pentacles”reflection by Jake B. Schrum, president, Southwestern University 38Naomi Shihab Nye’s “The Art of Disappearing”reflection by Ted Falcon, rabbi and radio host 40T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” [Excerpt]reflection by Joseph L. Subbiondo, president, California Institute of Integral Studies 42William Ayot’s “The Contract”reflection by Geoff Bellman, leadership consultant and author 44Amelia Earhart’s “Courage”reflection by John Wimmer, program director, Lilly Endowment 46William Stafford’s “Listening”reflection by David Brooks Andrews, journalist 48Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Adios”reflection by Pamela Seigle, executive director, Center for Courage & Renewal Northeast 48Sometimes It Aches 53Ghalib’s “For the raindrop, joy is in entering the river”reflection by Ann Myers, former school superintendent 54Mary Oliver’s “Spring Azures”reflection by Bonnie Allen, president, Center for Law & Renewal 56William Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence” [Excerpt]reflection by James O’Leary, Catholic priest 58Judy Brown’s “Trough”reflection by Linda Wolfe, small-business owner 60Rumi’s “Childhood Friends” [Excerpt]reflection by Karen E. Adams, physician and medical residency program director 62Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son”reflection by Estrus Tucker, president and CEO, Liberation Community, Inc. 64Yehuda Amichai’s “End of Elul”reflection by Liz Lerman, artistic director, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange 66Carol Prejean Zippert’s “When You Get Lost”reflection by Tom Beech, president and CEO, Fetzer Institute 68Henry Nouwen’s “Work Around Your Abyss”reflection by John Marston, alternative schools administrator 70Gabriela Mistral’s “Daybreak/Amanecer”reflection by Sandra P. Daley, pediatrician and medical school dean 72Mark Nepo’s “Accepting This”reflection by Wayne Muller, minister and author 74Pay Attention 77David Wagoner’s “Lost”reflection by Peter Senge, founding chair, Society for Organizational Learning 78Rainer Maria Rilke’s “I am too alone in the world, and not alone enough” [Excerpt]reflection by Bill White, pastor, Emmanuel Church 80John O’Donohue’s “Fluent”reflection by Carla M. Dahl, psychotherapist and dean at Bethel Seminary 82Tao Ching’s “#33”reflection by Kevin Fickenscher, executive vice president, Healthcare Transformation at Perot Systems 84David Whyte’s “The Opening of Eyes”reflection by Hanna B. Sherman, physician and medical educator 86William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus”reflection by David J. Garren, professor, U.S. Naval Academy 88Nevin Compton Trammell’s “I’m Tired, I’m Whipped”reflection by Karen Lee Turner, pastoral musician 90Yehuda Amichai’s “The Diameter of the Bomb”reflection by Howie Schaffer, public outreach director, Public Education Network 92Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Panther”reflection by David C. Leach, physician and executive director of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education 94William Stafford’s “With Kit, Age 7, At the Beach”reflection by Lee Rush, founder and executive director, justCommunity, Inc. 96Pablo Neruda’s “XXXI”reflection by Tony Deifell, founding board member, KaBOOM! 98William Butler Yeats’s “The Lover pleads with his Friend for Old Friends”reflection by Jim McDermott, congressman, 7th district of Washington 100Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”reflection by Adam Bunting, high school administrator 102The Real Bottom Line 105Mary Oliver’s “The Ponds”reflection by James A. Autry, author and former Fortune 500 executive 106Wallace Stevens’s “The Pleasures of Merely Circulating”reflection by Joan Blades, cofounder, MoveOn.org 108Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”reflection by James E. Rogers, president and CEO, Duke Energy Corporation 110Charles Simic’s “Stone”reflection by Dean Conway, middle school teacher and coach 112Wendell Berry’s “Sabbaths”reflection by Jay F. Smith, superintendent, United Methodist Church 114W. H. Auden’s “After Reading a Child’s Guide to Modern Physics”reflection by Eric Walsh, physician and associate chairman of Family Medicine 116Paul Mariani’s “The Peaceable Kingdom”reflection by Robert (Chip) Wood, elementary school principal 118Stephen Spender’s “The Truly Great”reflection by Betty Sue Flowers, director, Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum 122Rabindranath Tagore’s “The Grasp of Your Hand”reflection by L. J. Rittenhouse, president, andBEYOND Communications 124Mary Oliver’s “What I Have Learned So Far”reflection by Paul Batalden, physician and medical educator 126Billy Collins’s “The Night House”reflection by Sterling K. Speirn, president and CEO, W. K. Kellogg Foundation 128Dare to Endure 131Robert Browning’s “Andrea del Sarto” [Excerpt]reflection by Harry Barnes, former ambassador, Romania, India, and Chile 132Ezzeddin Nasafi’s “Oh, my friend”reflection by Charles Gibbs, executive director, United Religions Initiative 134Jack Gilbert’s “The Abnormal Is Not Courage”reflection by Jim Burke, author and high school teacher 136Ibn Arabi’s “There was a time I would reject those”reflection by Eboo Patel, founder and executive director, Interfatih Youth Core. 138Winston O. Abbott’s “Let me remember”reflection by Annie Goeke de La Bouillerie, codirector, Earth Rights Institute 140Rumi’s “What is This Fragrance” [Excerpt]reflection by Jamal Rahman, Muslim Sufi minister at the Interfaith Community Church 142Reb Nachman’s “The entire world is a very narrow bridge”reflection by Jaime Banks, communications researcher in public health 144Seamus Heaney’s “The Cure at Troy” [Excerpt]reflection by Doug Tanner, founder, The Faith & Politics Institute 146Kenneth Patchen’s “In Order to”reflection by Peter Pollard, public education director, Stop It Now! 148William Butler Yeats’s “Earth, Fire and Water” [Excerpt]reflection by Elizabeth A. Keene Reder, bereavement coordinator, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center 150Holly Near’s “The Rock Will Wear Away” [Excerpt]reflection by Tammy Baldwin, congresswoman, 2nd district of Wisconsin 152Leading Together 155Robert Creeley’s “The Warning”reflection by Dan Wieden, founder, Wieden + Kennedy ad agency 156Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” [Excerpt] and Countee Cullen’s “Yet Do I Marvel” [Excerpt]reflection by Linda K. Bowen, executive director, Institute for Community Peace 158Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road” [Excerpt]reflection by Janet Tiebout Hanson, founder, 85 Broads; and chair, Milestone Capital 160Louis MacNeice’s “Snow”reflection by Irene Martin, Episcopal priest and commercial fisher 164Emily Dickinson’s “I dwell in Possibility”reflection by Eileen Quinn, senior communications officer, PATH 166Wislawa Szymborska’s “A Note”reflection by Billy Shore, founder and executive director, Share Our Strength 168Claudia Schmidt’s “Replenish”reflection by Molly D. Anderson, food systems scholar 170Liz Rosenberg’s “In the End We Are All Light”reflection by Ted Lord, president and CEO, Humanities Washington 172May Sarton’s “All Souls”reflection by Patricia E. de Jong, minister, First Congregational Church of Berkeley 174Hafiz’s “How do I listen?”reflection by Pat Moore Harbour, founding director, Healing the Heart of Diversity 176Emily Dickinson’s “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant”reflection by Thomas B. Coburn, president, Naropa University 178Robert Service’s “The Spell of the Yukon” [Excerpt]reflection by Linda Chamberlain, epidemiologist and founding director, Alaska Family Violence Prevention Project 180Martin Luther King Jr.’s “The Drum Major Instinct” [Excerpt]reflection by Jim Kielsmeier, founder, president, and CEO, National Youth Leadership Council 182Back At It 185Thich Nhat Hanh’s “For Warmth”reflection by Henry Emmons, physician and author 186Robert Frost’s “Directive”reflection by Tom Allen, congressman, 1st district of Maine 188Judy Brown’s “Fire”reflection by Becky van der Bogert, former school superintendent 192Daisy Zamora’s “Song of Hope”reflection by Kathleen Gille, former congressional aide 194Lao Tzu’s “The uses of not”reflection by Peter Schneider, architect 196Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Kindness”reflection by Lois Capps, congresswoman, 23rd distrrict of California 198Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”reflection by Brian Dunlap, high school administrator 200William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”reflection by Carol Tecla Christ, president, Smith College 202Wendell Berry’s “The Peace of Wild Things”reflection by Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer, founder and president, AmericaSpeaks 206William Stafford’s “Silver Star”reflection by Diana Chapman Walsh, former president, Wellesley College 208Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” [Excerpt]reflection by John C. Bogle, founder, The Vanguard Group 210Leading with Fire: Using Poetry in Our Life and Work 213Afterword by David Whyte 237Gratitudes 241Center for Courage & Renewal 245The Editors 247Credits 249