• poems,  shadows

    a silent miracle

    dancing sunlight through a window
    unpredictable, playfull, offering delight
    suddenly emerging, spreading its gift
    the eyes see, the heart recognizes
    a silent miracle of the familiar1Inspired by a John O’Donohue Poem

    mws
  • gratitude,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  poems,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    Invitation

    Oh do you have time
    to linger
    for just a little while
    out of your busy

    and very important day
    for the goldfinches
    that have gathered
    in a field of thistles

    for a musical battle,
    to see who can sing
    the highest note,
    or the lowest,

    or the most expressive of mirth,
    or the most tender?
    Their strong, blunt beaks
    drink the air

    as they strive
    melodiously
    not for your sake
    and not for mine

    and not for the sake of winning
    but for sheer delight and gratitude –
    believe us, they say,
    it is a serious thing

    just to be alive
    on this fresh morning
    in the broken world.
    I beg of you,

    do not walk by
    without pausing
    to attend to this
    rather ridiculous performance.

    It could mean something.
    It could mean everything.
    It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
    You must change your life.

    Mary Oliver, “Invitation,”