One of my favorite poets is Mary Oliver. The below poem is titled ‘Mindful’ and is taken from her small but oh so wonderful to cozy up to and read: ‘Why I Wake Early’. This poem touches me every time I read it.
Mindful by Mary Oliver
Every day I see or hear something
that more or less kills me with delight,
that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
It was what I was born for –
to look, to listen, to lose myself
inside this soft world –
to instruct myself over and over
in joy, and acclamation.
Nor am I talking about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant –
but of the ordinary, the common,
the very drab, the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar, I say to myself,
how can you help but grow wise
with such teachings as these –
the untrimmable light of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made out of grass?
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