"MINDFUL" by Mary Oliver from "Why I Wake Early" (Beacon, 2004)
Every day/ I see or I hear/ sometimg/ that more or less
kills me/ with delight,/ that leaves me like a needle
in the haystack/ of light./ It is what I was born for --/ to look, to listen,
to lose myself/ inside this soft world --/ to instruct myself/ over and over
in joy,/ in acclamation./ Nor am I talking/ about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,/ the very extravagant -- / but of the ordinary,/ the common, the 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?
