Gifts of Grace

Read the poem in your book on pages 58 and 59. The big idea first: no work is small. Take away one worker and life stops: without an electrician we sit in the dark; without a cobbler we cannot go out. The poem honours every kind of work.

Warm-up riddles. The four riddles name a farmer, a pot maker, a mason and a cook. They meet our most basic needs (food, shelter), yet are often taken for granted.

The poem moves from worker to worker. The speaker 'hears' Bharat (India) celebrating its many vocations:

• craftspeople with work woven in colours and 'myriad hues' (very many colours);
• musicians with lutes (string instruments);
• carpenters working with mathematical precision;
• electricians humming as they get ready to bring light;
• boatmen gathering nets and singing about life at sea;
• shoemakers, sure of the quality of shoes for feet that 'walk, dance, run, jump, return home';
• the cook, the designer and the mason, each proud of a skill that is theirs alone.

The key line: the voice of their vocation is the voice of their identity. What people do is part of who they are.

The shape. The poem ends where it began: the speaker hears Bharat celebrating. Like a painting that needs many colours, a society needs many kinds of work.