Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Getting started

There is nothing stable in the world; uproar's your only music.
~John Keats



by D

excerpt from The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac

I know, you never intended to be in this world.
But you’re in it all the same.

so why not get started immediately.

I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over.

And to write music or poems about.

Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.

You could live a hundred years, it’s happened.
Or not.
I am speaking from the fortunate platform
of many years,
none of which, I think, I ever wasted.
Do you need a prod?
Do you need a little darkness to get you going?
Let me be urgent as a knife, then,
and remind you of Keats,
so single of purpose and thinking, for a while,
he had a lifetime.

~Mary Oliver

6 comments:

Jeanne said...

what a good poem! and new to me.

Keri said...

I found it so interesting that you posted this beautiful poem what ended up being the day before she died. She was an incredible talent.

Jone said...

Do you look at this poem and wonder how it happened that you shared a Mary Oliver poem just before she passed?

Joyce Ray said...

This is certainly a prod to make life count. I haven't read this poem. I love reading all the shared poems now. It's amazing that you shared this one when you did.

Molly Hogan said...

Another new-to-me Mary Oliver poem that sends me reeling--in the best possible way. What a gift she was to all of us. I'm so glad you shared this link in your PF post.

Mary Lee said...

All the Mary Oliver I read in blog posts over the next few days will be a balm in my soul. More so than usual, that is...