Mary Oliver

Is another one of my favorite poets. I love her love for nature and how her poetry draws me in quietly, making me lean forward with each stanza read, until I am absorbed into her words.

In her poem "When Death Comes" she wrote- "I want to say: all my life, I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.” I wish I came up with that quote myself. But since I didn't, I will continue to let it inspire me and remind me about the life I want to live.

This poem is about her affinity for the sun. An affinity I share with her, but have never been able to put in such words.

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?