Sunday, March 30, 2014

Mary Oliver: The Fist


The Fist
 
There are days
when the sun goes down
like a fist,
though of course
 
if you see anything
in the heavens this way
you had better get
 
your eyes checked
or, better still,
your diminished spirit.
The heavens
 
have no fist,
or wouldn't they have been
shaking it
for a thousand years now,
 
and even
longer than that,
at the dull, brutish
ways of mankind -
 
heaven's own
creation?
Instead: such patience!
Such willingness
 
to let us continue!
To hear,
little by little,
the voices -
 
only, so far, in
pockets of the world -
suggesting the possibilities
 
of peace?
 
Keep looking.
Behold, how the fist opens
with invitation.
 
- Mary Oliver
 

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