Consider, Always, Every Day
Evidence (continued)
by Mary Oliver
2.
There are many ways to perish, or to
flourish.
How old pain, for example, can stall us
at the
threshold of function.
Memory: a golden bowl, or a basement
without light.
For which reason the nightmare comes
with its
painful story and says: you need to know
this.
Some memories I would give anything
to forget.
Others I would not give up upon the
point of
death, they are the bright hawks of my
life.
Still, friends, consider stone, that is
without
the fret of gravity, and water that is
without
anxiety.
And the pine trees that never forget
their
recipe for renewal.
And the female wood duck who is look-
ing this way
and that way for her children. And the
snapping
turtle who is looking this way and that
way also.
This is the world.
And consider, always, every day, the
determination
of the grass to grow despite the unend-
ing obstacles.
***
(to be continued)