Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Morning Poem

Every morning 
the world 
is created. 
Under the orange

sticks of the sun 
the heaped 
ashes of the night 
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches— 
and the ponds appear 
like black cloth 
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies. 
If it is your nature 
to be happy 
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination 
alighting everywhere. 
And if your spirit 
carries within it

the thorn 
that is heavier than lead— 
if it's all you can do 
to keep on trudging—

there is still 
somewhere deep within you 
a beast shouting that the earth 
is exactly what it wanted—

each pond with its blazing lilies 
is a prayer heard and answered 
lavishly, 
every morning,

whether or not 
you have ever dared to be happy, 
whether or not 
you have ever dared to pray.


-- Mary Oliver







 

3 comments:

Katherine C. James said...

Mary Oliver is so lovely. Thank you for reminding me of this with "Morning Poem," which I first read in her collection DREAM WORKS. Lately, I haven't been reading poetry. Thank you for reminding me of its necessity.

thelma said...

Beautiful poem, all happiness to you in your new found joy. X

The Sandtray Coach said...

I love Mary Oliver and so glad I found your blog. I was looking for david Lefevre's Bacon and Cheddar biscuits and your recipe came up. Now I've burnt the bacon reading your posts. I'm so sorry you lost your brother. I lost mine to lymphoma many years ago. He was 16 years older and we became close when I grew up. I still miss him. He was extraordinary. I'm sorry for your loss. I knew I wanted to follow you when I saw that you liked God of small Things, one of my favorite books. But your follow button doesn't work. I hope I figure out how to find you again. I love your blog. Many thanks. Now I have to rescue the biscuits, probably by starting over.