A Modernist interpretation of Psalm 1

 Psalm 1

Blessed are the man and the woman, 

who have grown beyond themselves

and have seen through their separations.

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

Hass, Robert

Into the garden: a wedding anthology: Poetry and prose on love and marriage

edited by Robert Hass and Stephen Mitchell 1994

How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the LORD's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not survive the judgment, and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

(Psa 1:1-6 HCSB)