This Chance
Still more from
To Begin With, the Sweet Grass
by Mary Oliver
4.
Someday I am going to ask my friend
Paulus,
the dancer, the potter,
to make me a begging bowl
which I believe
my soul needs.
And if I come to you,
to the door of your comfortable house
with unwashed clothes and unclean fingernails,
will you put something into it?
I would like to take this chance.
I would like to give you this chance.