Because my words are too feeble to fully celebrate the life and work of Mary Oliver, I will use her own words from her poem,” Prayer”. May you dance on, Mary.
PRAYER
May I never not be frisky,
May I never not be risqué.
May my ashes, when you have them, friend,
and give them to the ocean,
leap in the froth of the waves,
still loving movement,
still ready, beyond all else,
to dance for the world.
MARY OLIVER
“It’s blinding me.
Could someone move the sun?” I ask.
Grandkids sigh and roll their eyes.
“We know you think
we can do the impossible, Gaba.
Relax. This will take a while.”
JDG
If we let in warmth
and light, frozen minds could thaw
and icy hearts melt.
Informed compassion could flow,
rivers of connection form.
JDG
Having shed autumn
leaves, trees deck themselves out in
scintillating ice.
JDG
Sitting in silence,
I wait for inspiration
to come, but after
awhile I’m forced to see
she wants nothing of me.
JDG
Outside things are slowed
as the falling snow blankets
the landscape in white.
What we do with the inscape
is completely up to us.
JDG
Too much light can blind,
too little and we can’t see.
In between too much
and too little there’s a world
full of possibility.
JDG
