Tuesday, July 10, 2018

To instruct myself over and over in joy (Mary Oliver)


 Every day 
I see or hear 
something 
that more or less 
  
kills me 
with delight, 
that leaves me 
like a needle 
  
in the haystack 
of light. 
It was what I was born for – 
to look, to listen, 
  
to lose myself 
inside this soft world – 
to instruct myself 
over and over 
  
in joy, 
and acclamation. 
Nor am I talking 
about the exceptional, 
  
the fearful, the dreadful, 
the very extravagant – 
but of the ordinary, 
the common, the very drab, 
  
the daily presentations. 
Oh, good scholar, 
I say to myself, 
how can you help 
  
but grow wise 
with such teachings 
as these – 
the untrimmable light 
  
of the world, 
the ocean’s shine, 
the prayers that are made 
out of grass? 

--Mary Oliver, Mindful,
 in Why I Wake Early


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