The Dovekie

Whatever

you know

about here

it doesn’t

tell you

anything

about

what happens

out there.

The dovekie,

for example,

is smaller

than the robin

who eats the cherries

in the tree

in your yard

and the worms

in your grass.

It is white and black.

It lays

a single egg

in cold country

in the brief summer;

its wings

buzz as it flies

over the waters.

Listen,

once again,

as again, and again,

we are given

this single wisdom:

to know

our world

is to be busy

all day long

with happiness.

If you are not

among us

I say

take boat;

go north;

row and stare

until you see him,

smaller than a robin,

in the burning cold,

in the black and white waters

singing his wren song

to the hungry waves.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Why I Wake Early, 2004)