today.
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
God made the world, and the swan and the black bear and the grasshopper. Isn't He creative!!!
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How appropriate for me today. I just lost a young friend to cancer and I am feeling the need to life evaluation. Thank you for your always-timely posts.
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Thank you Ali. There is ALWAYS something on your blog that inspires me in some way, large or small. I adore the last line. I feel a layout coming on in the near future.
Corinna
read my blog www.myscrapbooklife.com
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Ali - was it on your blog that I saw a link to a really neat album system at Two Peas? It was probably within the last 6 months, and it was actually on the front page at Two Peas for at least a couple of days, but the creator had put several sizes into one album? That thought is really appealing to me and I'm trying to track it down - any help you could provide would be useful. Thanks!
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Thanks for the poem, Ali. It's going on a scrapbook page for my daughter. She won't get it now, but maybe it'll be fodder for an epiphany later. Thanks for making us think!
Anne-Liesse
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oh ali, you are making me want to dive into my collection of mary oliver poems! i am mostly familiar with Wild Geese - which i love! but i have yet to really cruise through her other works. thanks for sharing this!
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Wow, I have been wanting to read some poetry too...thanks for a name. Great thought. And P.S. thanks for sharing your life!
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