Fr. Dan Berrigan, SJ, died yesterday in New York City at the age of 94. I imagine many dotCommonweal readers will have their own recollections of Fr. Berrigan and his impact on their lives, so consider this an open thread for those reminiscences.

Here's his poem, "Some", written for the Plowshare 8*, read by Berrigan at the memorial service for David Joyce in the spring of 1983, and a lovely evocation of Dan's own spirit.

Some stood up once, and sat down.
Some walked a mile, and walked away.

Some stood up twice, then sat down.
“It’s too much,” they cried.
Some walked two miles, then walked away.
“I’ve had it,” they cried,

Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools,
they were taken for being taken in.

Some walked and walked and walked –
they walked the earth,
they walked the waters,
they walked the air.

“Why do you stand?” they were asked, and
“Why do you walk?”

“Because of the children,” they said, and
“Because of the heart, and
“Because of the bread,”

“Because the cause is
the heart’s beat, and
the children born, and
the risen bread.”

*Update: Regular reader and commenter Gene Palumbo send the following: "...today I finally saw the Democracy Now program about Dan.  At one point, Howard Zinn ... apparently reading Dan's own words at the very beginning of the poem, says, "In loving memory: Mitchell Snyder.""

Luke Hill is a writer and community organizer in Boston. He blogs at dotCommonweal and MassCommons. 

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