Straight Talk From
Fox
Listen says fox it is music
to run
over the hills to lick
dew from the leaves to nose along
the
edges of the ponds to smell the fat
ducks in their bright feathers but
far
out, safe in their rafts of
sleep. It is like
music to visit the orchard,
to find
the vole sucking the sweet of the apple, or the
rabbit with his
fast-beating heart. Death itself
is a music. Nobody has ever come close
to
writing it down, awake or in a dream. It cannot
be told. It is flesh
and bones
changing shape and with good cause, mercy
is a little child
beside such an invention. It is
music to wander the black back
roads
outside of town no one awake or wondering
if anything miraculous is
ever going to
happen, totally dumb to the fact of every
moment's miracle.
Don't think I haven't
peeked into windows. I see you in all your
seasons
making love, arguing, talking about God
as if he were an idea
instead of the grass,
instead of the stars, the rabbit caught
in one good
teeth-whacking hit and brought
home to the den. What I am, and I know it,
is
responsible, joyful, thankful. I would not
give my life for a thousand
of yours.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(Red
Bird)
(left button to play, right button
to save)