How Everything Adores Being
Alive
What
if you were
a beetle,
and a soft wind
if you were
a beetle,
and a soft wind
and a certain allowance of
time
had summoned you
out of your wrappings,
and there you were,
had summoned you
out of your wrappings,
and there you were,
so many
legs
hardening,
maybe even
more than one pair of eyes
hardening,
maybe even
more than one pair of eyes
and the whole world
in front of you?
And what if you had wings
and flew
in front of you?
And what if you had wings
and flew
into the garden,
then fell
into the up-tipped
face
then fell
into the up-tipped
face
of a white flower,
and what if you had
a sort of mouth,
a lip
and what if you had
a sort of mouth,
a lip
to place close
to the skim
of honey
that kept offering itself -
to the skim
of honey
that kept offering itself -
what would you think
then
of the world
as, night and day,
you were kept there -
of the world
as, night and day,
you were kept there -
oh happy prisoner -
sighing, humming,
roaming
that deep cup?
sighing, humming,
roaming
that deep cup?
~ Mary Oliver
~
(Why I Wake Early,
2004)
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