Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Poem: In Blackwater Woods

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.

To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

~ Mary Oliver ~

2 comments:

  1. Autumn is the time when nature lets go. It is a beautiful season but also bleak in some respects. Letting go is one of the most difficult things to do but it can bring the most amazing opportunities into our lives. Thanks for sharing Mary Oliver's beautiful poem.

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    Replies
    1. We are always taught to fight and at times, resist. However, accepting is just as hard to do. Seizing the opportunities for grace is important. Mary Oliver teaches us to do that so well.

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