Poetry Friday
Morning Poem Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
the world
is created.
Under the orange
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(Dream Work)
another stunning poem choice. I never really took much notice of poetry until I started reading your Poetry Friday poems and now my interest has expanded so much that I bought my first poetry book..and guess what I bought?? Mary Oliver! Never heard of her until you started to feature her and now I am hooked! I can see why she is your favourite poet!
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Love this poem! And I agree with Pamela – my interest in poetry has expanded hugely since starting to read your blog.
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What a wonderful start to the day – a bit of Mary Oliver and a wonderful poem
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And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
This exactly describes how I am feeling today, so this beautiful poem really spoke to and reminded me of the beauty that still exists in the world.
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Beautiful poetry from one of my favorite poets too.
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Thanks for introducing many of us to the beauty of poetry – as other readers have said above, I never took much notice of poetry until now but i have grown to love your poetry choices and look forward to seeing what you have chosen each week.
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Beautiful poetry and picture!
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That is so lovely….the beauty of every new morning….after ‘heaped ashes of night’…a new day is created with lots of beautiful, special things to find..a fair few thorns too in nature (not so beautiful to us…but part of life and nature) Hard to trudge through…and prickly!!! can definitley spike the spirit!!! But there’s always happiness to find if you look around and search on that newly created day with it’s high leaves. The ashes can be piled high…but they’re ‘ashes’….in the past…the day will end with night and that day might have caused some more…but every morning ‘the world is created’ again, to give us all a chance to look for the colours, the leaves, the ponds, the lilies…the happy things…and not to start any fires that will cause even more ashes…
Today…I’m caught between my spirit carrying that thorn of lead…a beast, sometimes…and that happy nature that I know I am…but the days not finished…and tomorrow…a new world will be created 🙂
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This poetic brilliance spoke volumes to me today. Thank you for sharing its rich imagery with us. I love the last lines about daring to be happy, daring to pray. So bold, so lovely.
XOXO,
Jan
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