again, calming. again, inspiring.
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Posts
2 comments:
our mary oliver kick is so interesting, i had never really known her work and was JUST in a high school class where they were reading this amazing mary oliver poem and the teacher was plugging her like crazy.
Meghan, Mary Oliver chuckled with glee when told you were connecting with her poems. wish you could see her; short, spry, wiry, white-hair that dries in the wind and stays that way all day, huge smile, wise eyes, bohemian, artist, beloved by all here in town. so glad her words have touched your heart, too.
Post a Comment