Friday, July 29, 2011

Mindful by Mary Oliver

Every day
   I see or I hear
      something
         that more or less


kills me
   with delight,
      that leaves me
        like a needle


in the haystack
   of light.
      It is what I was born for---
         to look, to listen,


to lose myself
   inside this soft world---
      to instruct myself
         over and over


in joy,
   and acclamation.
      Nor am I talking
         about the exceptional,


the fearful, the dreadful,
   the very extravagant---
      but of the ordinary,
        the common, the very drab,


the daily presentations.
   Oh, good scholar,
      I say to myself,
        how can you help


but grow wise
   with such teachings
      as these---
         the untrimmable light


of the world,
   the ocean's shine,
      the prayers that are made
        out of grass?



Datura