Friday, January 18, 2019

Mary Oliver -- Rest in Peace




She has left us so much . . .

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me

by Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver
Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!
That’s what it said
as it dropped,
smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches
and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing
under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,
and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment
my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars
and the soft rain –
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.






7 comments:

Juliet said...

Vicki, I didn't know she had died. Thank you so much for this post, and the beautiful poem of hers that you have selected. I love her work so much.

Anvilcloud said...

Such touching pictures and feelings from this woman, which is too little praise from me where more is deserved.

Thérèse said...

I will definitely look into her poems.

Barbara Rogers said...

Sad for us, we who have been blessed by the images her words called forth. Glad that the world had her spirit for a while.

Lynn said...

I’ve never been much of a poetry reader. But that all changed with Mary Oliver. When I heard yesterday that she had died, my heart ached. But as you say, she has left us so much and all the more reason to cherish it today.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorites...her words will never die. Funny, I thought she's live on an on. I was quite surprised that she died---at her home in Florida? She should have been by a pond near Provincetown.

Vicki Lane said...

Therese -- I think you would really enjoy them