BonnieR
07-07-2011, 11:59 AM
THE SUMMER DAY by Mary Oliver
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, 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 in 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.....
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, 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 in 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.....