Poem: Mary Oliver from "Why I Wake Early"

Hello, sun in my face. 

Hello, you who make the morning 

and spread it over the fields 

and into the faces of the tulips 

and the nodding morning glories, 

and into the windows of, even, 

the miserable and crotchety- 

 

best preacher that ever was, dear star, 

that just happens to be where you are in the universe 

to keep us from ever-darkness, 

to ease us with warm touching, 

to hold us in the great hands of light- 

good morning, good morning, good morning. 

Watch, now, how I start the day 

in happiness, in kindness.