The heavens have no fist (Mary Oliver)

There are days

when the sun goes down

like a fist,

though of course

                                   

if you see anything

in the heavens

in this way

you had better get

                                   

your eyes checked

or, better still,

your diminished spirit.

The heavens

                                   

have no fist,

or wouldn’t they have been

shaking it

for a thousand years now,

                                   

and even

longer than that,

at the dull, brutish

ways of mankind –

                                   

heaven’s own

creation?

Instead:  such patience!

Such willingness

                                   

to let us continue!

To hear,

little by little,

the voices –

                                   

only, so far, in

pockets of the world –

suggesting the possibilities

                                   

of peace?

Keep looking.

Behold, how the fist opens

With invitation.

--Mary Oliver (1935-2019), 

The Fist 

Image source:  http://thejourneydiscipleship.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-invitation.html