Moment of Joy - Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate...

 ....sometimes something happens better than all the
riches or power in the world.  It could be anything, but
very likely you notice it in an instant...

 Anyway, whatever it is, don' be afraid of its plenty...

Mary Oliver
from: Swan

Original Title - Don't Hesitate

With thanks to Whiskey River

~

Personal Note:  This happened to me a couple of days ago
Suddenly the shroud of darkness lifted, and there was causeless joy,
and LIFE, and gratitude, peace and contentment
just waiting underneath...
It was joyous :)
And then it disappeared after a day just as it had arisen...

A moment of Joy...

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

What Is There Beyond Knowing? - Mary Oliver

What is there beyond knowing that keeps
calling to me?  I can't

turn in any direction
but it's there.  I don't mean

the leaves' grip and shine or even the thrush's
silk song, but the far-off

fires, for example,
of the stars, heaven's slowly turning

theater of light, or the wind
playful with its breath;

or time that's always rushing forward,
or standing still

in the same  - what shall I say -
moment.

What I know
I could put into a pack

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
on one shoulder,

important and honorable, but so small!

While everything else continues, unexplained

and unexplainable.  How wonderful it is
to follow a though quietly

to its logical end.
I have done this a few times.

But mostly I just stand in the dark field,

in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out.  Life so far doesn't have any other name
but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.
I simply go on drifting, in the heave of the grass
and the weeds.

Mary Oliver

via - Poetry Chaikhana

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

What Can I Say - Mary Oliver

 What can I say that I have not said before?
So I'll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinished story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until it ends.

Take your busy heart to the art museum and the
chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.

Mary Oliver
from her anthology - Swan

With thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Aspen leaf floating in a creek

Among The Trees - Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple", they say,
"and you too have come into the world to do this,
to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."

Mary Oliver

via - The Beauty We Love

~
Photo - Mystic Meandering

The Wind - Arthur Osborne

I am a pipe the wind blows through.
Be still, it is the wind that sings.
The course of my life and the things that I do
and the seeming false and the seeming true
are the tune of the wind that neither knows
good or ill, nor joys and woes.
But the ultimate awe is deeper yet
than song or pipe or storm;
for pipe and tune are the formless wind
that seemed for a while to take form.
And words are good to escape from words
and strife to escape from strife.
But silence drinks in all the waves
of song and death and life.

Arthur Osborne
From: Be Still, It is the Wind That Sings

via - No Mind's Land

~

...Death itself is a music...
Nobody has ever come close to
writing it down, awake or in a
dream.  It cannot be told...

Mary Oliver
excerpt from Straight Talk From Fox

Do What You Need To Do...

“One day you finally knew
what you had to do,
and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice;
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles…

“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

It was already late enough,
and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do -
determined to save
the only life you could save.”

The Journey
by Mary Oliver

Photo: Shadow of knive handles in a knife block holder.
To me it gives the appearance of an outstretched hand,
as if inviting me to follow…

PS: I am not suggesting anything morbid here!
Just thought the shadow was interesting...

*

I love this poem, and am letting it speak for me.
I know I have posted it before,
in fact in August of last year
when faced with family drama.
I’m apparently going in circles. :)
It seems appropriate to post it again
 for where I am now
and the pull I feel on my life -
as I go through another cycle of letting go
of the ego-centric dramas of my life
and fully awaken to the True Self…
Maybe this year… :)

Mary Oliver - "The Journey"

One day you finally knew
what you had to do,
and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice…
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible
it was already late enough,
and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do…
determined to save
the only life you could save…

Mary Oliver

Goosey Goslings ~ ~ ~

Feeling a little lack-luster this week, I decided to cross the bridge today at a local park to see if the gardens were in bloom, only to find this lovely surprise - no flourishing gardens – but Canadian Geese and their goslings!  

Truly, we live with mysteries
 too marvelous to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.

How people come
from delight
or the scars of damage,
to the comfort of
a poem…

Let me keep my distance,
always,
from those who
think they have the answers.

Let me keep company,
always,
with those who say -
”Look”
and laugh in astonishment,
and bow…

Mary Oliver
from Evidence

When we are free of mental concepts
and our senses are awake,
the sounds, smells, images,
and vibrations we experience
connect us with all life…

It is not my aliveness
but simply
life…
unfolding and intense,
mysterious and beautiful.

By meeting the changing dance
with radical acceptance

we discover our intrinsic
belonging
to the whole…

Tara Brach
from: The Buddha Is Still Teaching
by Jack Kornfield