A Poem For Today - This World

[KDick...@aol.com]

 

This World 

I would like to write a poem about the world that has in it

nothing fancy.

But it seems impossible.

Whatever the subject, the morning sun

glimmers it.

The tulip feels the heat and flaps its petals open and becomes a star.

The ants bore into the peony bud and there is a dark

pinprick well of sweetness.

As for the stones on the beach, forget it.

Each one could be set in gold.

So I tried with my eyes shut, but of course the birds

were singing.

And the aspen trees were shaking the sweetest music

out of their leaves.

And that was followed by, guess what, a momentous and

beautiful silence

as comes to all of us, in little earfuls, if we’re not too

hurried to hear it.

As for spiders, how the dew hangs in their webs

even if they say nothing, or seem to say nothing.

So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe they sing.

So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe the stars sing too,

and the ants, and the peonies, and the warm stones,

so happy to be where they are, on the beach, instead of being

locked up in gold.

- Mary Oliver

[johnja...@gmail.com]

Ah, it's funny, when I started reading this, the poet's name at the bottom was hidden from my view, and Ken wisely does not put the poet's name by the title, lest it prevent us from reading the poem with fresh eyes.

As I scrolled down and Mary Oliver's name appeared, the smile on my face said,

"Of course. Who else could it be?"

From someone who turns out masterpieces like Duke Ellington did, one after another, even so, this one really brings tears to my eyes.

Another little piece of paradise.

Thank you.

Jai

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "A Poem For Today" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to poet2+un...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to po...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/poet2.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

John "Jai" Conley

Wordsmith: Writer/Editor

Faculty/Writing Coach, Pre-Health Professions Certificate Program, San Francisco State University

johnjai...@gmail.com

(415) 524-6025

I gaze on myself in the stream's emerald flow
Or sit on a boulder by a cliff.
My mind, a lonely cloud, leans on nothing,
Needs nothing from the world and its endless events. 

 - Han Shan (9th century)