Stephen Mitchell, American poet, translator, scholar, and anthologist, born 1943. “Psalm 1” from A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew, translated and adapted by Steven Mitchell.
PSALM 1
Steven Mitchell
Blessed are the man and the woman
who have grown beyond their greed
and have put an end to their hatred
and no longer nourish illusions.
But they delight in the way things are
and keep their hearts open, day and night.
They are like trees planted near flowing rivers,
which bear fruit when they are ready.
Their leaves will not fall or wither.
Everything they do will succeed.