Quote of the Day

8.15.2008

Friday Poetry: Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond by Mary Oliver

I'm posting this today for the lovely herons that grace our back marshes.



Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond


So heavy
is the long-necked, long-bodied heron,
always it is a surprise
when her smoke-colored wings

open
and she turns
from the thick water,
from the black sticks

of the summer pond,
and slowly
rises into the air
and is gone.

Then, not for the first or the last time,
I take the deep breath
of happiness, and I think
how unlikely it is

that death is a hole in the ground,
how improbable
that ascension is not possible,
though everything seems so inert, so nailed

back into itself--
the muskrat and his lumpy lodge,
the turtle,
the fallen gate.

And especially it is wonderful
that the summers are long
and the ponds so dark and so many,
and therefore it isn't a miracle

but the common thing,
this decision,
this trailing of the long legs in the water,
this opening up of the heavy body

into a new life: see how the sudden
gray-blue sheets of her wings
strive toward the wind; see how the clasp of nothing
takes her in.

~ Mary Oliver What Do We Know: Poems and Prose Poems p. 29.






Here is the coding if you want a button with a link to this week's round-up.





:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry roundup hosted by Big A little a.



~Suzanne





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't you love Mary Oliver in summer? Thanks for the beautiful break from my vacation packing. Still love your blog!