Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mary Oliver: The Sun


The Sun

Have you ever seen 
anything 
in your life 
more wonderful
 
than the way the sun, 
every evening, 
relaxed and easy, 
floats toward the horizon
 
and into the clouds or the hills, 
or the rumpled sea, 
and is gone-- 
and how it slides again
 
out of the blackness, 
every morning, 
on the other side of the world, 
like a red flower
 
streaming upward on its heavenly oils, 
say, on a morning in early summer, 
at its perfect imperial distance-- 
and have you ever felt for anything 
such wild love-- 
do you think there is anywhere, in any language, 
a word billowing enough 
for the pleasure
 
that fills you, 
as the sun 
reaches out, 
as it warms you
 
as you stand there, 
empty-handed-- 
or have you too 
turned from this world--
 
or have you too 
gone crazy 
for power, 
for things?
 
~ Mary Oliver ~
 
(New and Selected Poems)

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