Sunday, May 5, 2013

Sunday Morning Poetry



When Death Comes
 
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
 
to buy me, and snaps his purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;
 
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
 
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering;
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
 
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
 
and I think of each life as a flower, as common 
as a field daisy, and as singular,
 
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,
 
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
 
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
 
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened
or full of argument.
 
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.
 
~ Mary Oliver


9 comments:

Mac n' Janet said...

"I was a bride married to amazement", what a fantastic line! I'm not a big poetry fan, but I really liked this one, thank you for sharing it.

amelia said...

That was my favorite line, too! What a lovely motto for life . . .

S. Etole said...

This is such a beautiful combination.

Kyra said...

One of my all time fave poems, for it's craft but also for the sentiments it echoes - for all my life I was a bride married to amazement, I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Jaime said...

That last line got me.
Sometimes I am such an observer, rather than a doer, that I feel as though I am not truly taking an active role in my life. But that is my way, and that is how I feel amazed and full of wonder... so I must be taking part in some meaningful way, right?

Claire said...

Oh, that last line.

Tracy said...

Ah, Mary Oliver...She just HUGELY inspires us to dig a little deeper, live a lot richer and dwell in the truth... ((HUGS))

Jeanie said...

Sending good energy to your mom and hugs to you.

And what a wonderful poem.

HKatz said...

I love this poem. I really love it.

This stanza:
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

I need to always remember this.

(And the line comparing death to an iceberg between the shoulders is so profoundly chilling.)

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