poetry thursday
My readings of late, blogs and books, have had a theme. Recognizing your fears, recognizing the life you want to live, learning to let go of fear to begin to live that life. I have spent some time synthesizing my thoughts about all of this. But I am not ready to write them yet. Today, on Poetry Thursday, I will let the words of Mary Oliver add to this theme.
When Death Comes
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom; taking the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.
Mary Oliver (from the book New and Selected Poems)
If you are not yet a Poetry Thursday participant, and you would like to share a poem today, post one on your blog or share one here in the comments of this post. If you would like me to add you to the list of participants, please send me an email and I will add you to this list.
And if you feel moved, print out a poem you read today or find a favorite book of poetry, run a bath, and have a Poetry Reading in the bathtub. Just you, the words of another (or your own), and your voice vibrating around you.
poetry
Reader Comments (17)
this is one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, espcially the stanza..
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom; taking the world into my arms.
Thank you, I needed to remember this poem today.
i used this poem for my very first blog entry ever! it is one of my all time favorite poems and a terrific reminder of how to live.
Wow. Powerful thoughts.
This is a wonderful ocean to be swimming in!
~Josephine
I was not familiar with Mary Oliver before poetry thursday...she has plenty of fans. For good reason and I love hearing people share why they love certain poems. Great community building!
That's a beautiful poem. I love reading poetry but I'm unable to write anything even remotely eloquent. A long bath and a good book of poetry sounds like a fitting end to a stressful day:)
Oh, That is wonderful. Let's not just be visitors to the world.
I have read a bunch of poems this week, and this one, hands down, is my favorite. This place I am at, it met me there. Such beautifully carved wisdom. THANK YOU a million times over for sharing this. Thank you!
gorgeous poem... mary rules! and yes, it's neat how our poems today echoed similar themes...
Liz, this was so beautiful!!! I had not read this before, it is such a great way to approach life. Did you start poetry Thursday?? If so, thank you! I am a huge poetry lover and it is great to have a reason to read and think about poetry weekly. It's also great to follow your blog out to others and discover all this great new poetry.
Let me know if you're ever up in Seattle, we should meet for coffee!
Thank you so very much...I've never read this poem--wow, I don't even know where to begin.
Amazing.
If there was a statue of Mary Oliver somewhere, I can't imagine that many of us would not make a pilgrimage to it to place offerings at her feet...for surely she speaks to so many of us...time and time again. Thanks for sharing this.
My favorite line...
"When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom; taking the world into my arms."
If we could always live this way. Great poem!
a.
oo, this is one of my favorite poems. thank you for sharing. :-)
Mine is late of course but here it is...
http://sentimentalbutcrazy.typepad.com/mommas_on_the_edge/2006/03/poetry_thursday_2.html
I loved your pick and I love that poem!
That is one of my very favorite poems! In fact, the last passages were part of our wedding ceremony. Shes such a magnificent writer, isn't she? Hey, I was just reading through your list of favorite books and many of yours are mine too! And then I realized, "Hey! Why aren't they on my list of favorite books?" I am looking forward to your coming to visit us in Portland. I really hope it will be soon!
Fabulous choice, Liz! I am enjoying all the poetry reeadings so much and am very glad you initiated this wonderful community. I have also noticed the commonality in theme while surfing blogs lately. Risk taking seems to be the focus of the recent past and present. Living the full life is such an important goal. (Did you see Frankie's recent post? She is having the time of her life!)
I had trouble accessing your blog all night and today - until now. Kept getting error messages about your site. Bogger/blogspot has been acting very strange the past several days. I had trouble even posting my own poem!
Hey, Sky, thanks for pointing out my error on my Poetry Thursday blog post. I felt stupid for about 2 seconds, then realized my brain was fried that day. I regularly read poems by both May Sarton and May Swenson so they just got crossedup in my very tired brain. But anyway, it's *not* good to mess up the credits for anything, especially when we are publicly posting someone else's work. So I thank you.
I fixed it. And here is my original comment on Liz's post, minus the mistake:
Liz, a beautiful poem again - as Mary Oliver's poems almost always are. Great choice, Liz! I am sharing another one from May Swenson on my blog, Raven's Nest. . . hopefully one that's new to most of us Poetry Thursday folks. It's here:
http://ravengrrl.blogspot.com/2006/03/poetry-thursday_16.html
cheers,
Maureen