This has been one of those weeks. You know what I mean, don’t you? Whatever you had planned somehow did not get done. I dislike weeks or even days like this, but now and then something grasps your time and snatches it from your keeping and you lose control.
During weeks like this one and the one just before, I often lose my timing for my Wednesday blog post. If something comes to mind that I can share with you, I’ll post it on another day and hope that you derive something from it.
Our son was here last Saturday helping with outdoor projects as we near the end of summer. There’s lots of cleanup to get done, as well as he and Bob get a kick out of working on an old car project. Their working together is a lovely sound to my ears. Those sounds make summer days special.
So, when thinking about what to share, Mary Oliver’s poem, The Summer Day, came to mind. I hope you enjoy it and find a kernel of wisdom and restoration.
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
~~ Mary Oliver
From New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA
Copyright 1992 by Mary Oliver.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press from New and Selected Poems. Copyright 1992 by Mary Oliver. For further permissions information, contact Beacon Press, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108-2892.
Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. She published several poetry collections, including Dog Songs: Poems (Penguin Books, 2015).
Some weeks are like that, aren’t they? Yes, I know what you mean. Thank you for sharing Mary Oliver’s poem and giving me the opportunity to pause and reflect on her words. Happy Friday, Sherrey.
Yes, some weeks are just that way! Glad you enjoyed Mary Oliver’s poem. I’m going to try to work it into your time of shutting down all devices and sit and ponder.
I grabbed this line from your post: “Our son was here last Saturday helping with outdoor projects.” If something is too high or too heavy, our son comes over and helps me out, often bringing our grandson, now our official lawn landscaper.
Yes, I like Mary Oliver any way I can get her. She clarifies my thoughts with her eloquence, like in the oft-quoted lines: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
Thanks for this, Sherrey. Keep your inspiration coming. . . !
Marian, I’m so glad to hear you too have a son to come over and help. Unfortunately, our son’s travel in his job makes his time iffy. But when he is here, he works hard.
I too enjoy Mary Oliver’s style in her writing. Her poems give me so much comfort and peace.
Thanks for your encouragement once again! I need all I can get.
I missed reading Life in the Slow Lane, but now I’m so glad you’re back!
Hello Linda! Many things impeded my writing. But the light from above is shining down on us these days. So good to see you’re here!! Are you going to the class reunion this time around? I’d love to go, but 2200 miles is too many miles to traverse in this time in our lives!
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