Monday, June 15, 2009

Today's poem - Lingering in Happiness by Mary Oliver


Lingering in Happiness
by Mary Oliver
from Why I Wake Early

After rain after many days without rain,
it stays cool, private and cleansed, under the trees,
and the dampness there, married now to gravity,
falls branch to branch, leaf to leaf, down to the ground

where it will disappear - but not, of course, vanish
except to our eyes. The roots of the oaks will have their share,
and the white threads of the grasses, and the cushion of moss;
a few drops, round as pearls, will enter the mole's tunnel;

and soon so many small stones, buried for a thousand years,
will feel themselves being touched.

13 comments:

  1. how beautiful...loved that line of a stone buried a thousand years feeling the touch of the water...

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  2. A beautiful poem!

    The idea of stones long buried underground being touched by the rain had never occurred to me. We had torrential rain and thunder and lightning yesterday - today feels fresher. The stones must be feeling it too.

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  3. I will request this collection for my birthday, I love the two you have posted. I have all her other books, well thumbed. What joy and comfort she brings to so many, helping to celebrate the seemingly small and insignificant things in life.
    Carole

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  4. Thanks to each of you for coming by. I especially appreciate your visits when I've had so little time to come to your blogs, let alone to post on mine!

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  5. Hi Nan, I just thought I'd stop in and say hello. Things have been so busy here as we get ready for Jacquelyn's move up to Canada in August (for grad school) that I haven't been keeping up with emails or blogs. So, this morning I thought I'd try and catch up a bit. Now I'm off to catch up on all your recent entries.
    Joanne

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  6. Thank you for sharing that poem. I love it and am going to share it with my girls.

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  7. I love Mary Oliver's poems. Love the last two lines of this one.

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  8. Nice to 'see' you, Joanne. That's amazing news about your girl. You must be so proud!

    Sherri, Susan, Sarah, and Cait, I'm so very pleased you liked it. She is just wonderful.

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  9. ..."where it will disappear - but not, of course, vanish
    except to our eyes." I love this imagery. Makes me think of loved one past and how their contribution to this life lives on.

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