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"Messenger", by Mary Oliver

Updated: Sep 12, 2023

So wonderful to read this poem today! Another gift from my Poetry Fairy, Toni Goodman.


Messenger

Mary Oliver


My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—

equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.


Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,


which is mostly standing still and learning to be

astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,


which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever.


from Thirst, Beacon Press; First Edition, September 1, 2007






sunflower
Sunflower. Filoli, California, September 2023


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