Bone - Celebration of Mary Oliver

Two lovers adorned in wedding white
They’re bonded to each other for life
Swimming in synchronized perfection
The swan couplet is monogamy in motion

Ballerino and ballerina dance in harmony
Upon the cold northern Mississippi
Causing the geese to look homely
And the ducks to seem silly

That love is a natural force
As nature intended
Is embodied in these swans
Whose romance is evident

#MaryOliver

 
I constant recall back when I was new,  
And just a few years older more than that.  
The mem’o’ries of then are quite a few,  
A slide show from the backseat where I sat.  
 
With all the travel Mom & Dad would do,  
And learning of the sights we went to see.  
No matter where I was from home, in lieu,  
There always was the sun right where I’d be.  
 
Wherever I would go, nature would smile,  
With welcome leafy arms that never hurt.  
The tomboy that I am would laugh awhile,  
I always loved to play in mud and dirt  
 
I got to thinking lately, what has changed,  
Since years ago, of all the countryside.  
It’s more than just a few things rearranged,  
The grass & trees & earth have all but died.  
 
Where all the open spaces used to yawn,  
For miles & miles, the curvature of Earth,  
Now concrete; everything that was is gone!  
I never thought I’d see the day from birth.  
 
The way I have to live, what have I got,  
A garden hose that trickles with a squirt?  
Such sightings rare of flowers in a pot,  
I think I’ll trade my futures in for dirt.

That night, I slept beneath the watch of a familiar face, but one which I had not visited for quite some time.    
   
I gazed deep into Mother nature’s nurturing eyes,    
As she held me in her warm embrace    
And so tenderly took me away    
From the bane of my existence,    
'Neath the skirt of a gnarled, giving tree.    
   
Her pockets full of nuts and seeds,    
The fallen fruits of her creation,    
Bestowed so lovingly to me,    
Neatly rested below its gnarled branches,    
An enchanted slumber befell my eyes    
As mother nature’s starry gaze watched over me that night.    
   
Sleeping in the forest,    
I slept a sleep like none before.    
Like a young bird at rest in its earthen nest    
Nestled safe and sound    
Against its mother’s breast    
'Neath the pale, white light of the moon.    
   
Nothing lies between us,    
but my thoughts,    
Fleeting,    
Flitting, like moths taking flight    
Branching out towards the sky    
‘Neath the giving tree that night.    
   
I heard the voice of Mother Nature,    
A sweet serenade of sound:    
A chorus of croaking frogs    
And crickets chirping all around.    
Nature’s hidden wonders whisper    
Ancient wisdom in my ears,    
Sacred secrets of the past,    
Revealed in Her ancient years.    
   
The night, it rose and fell,    
Her words reflected on by the water’s edge,    
There beneath the giving tree,    
She sang sweet melodies inside my head.    
   
Night came and went before my eyes,    
I rose and fell the same,    
By the time the morning sun arose,    
My life had forever changed.

#MaryOliver

The journey starts with one small step. It is one step into the world
Where the tides and waves all rush to meet at your feet as you walk
In the sand on the beach’s shoreline, following endless words curled

On forgotten pages. Above all the endless noise, chatter and the talk
Of those around you is where you begin to find your bearings. It is
When you see the stars and you are away from the advice of a hawk

You find your voice. You want someone else to come fix and un-fizz
Your life like the aftermath of a chaotic storm or glass of champagne,
But it starts within you. You pried and took the truth from her or his

Delicate fingers. They may blame it on the wind because with the rain
It knocks everything sideways and makes everything damp, but you
Have to do what you needed to do all along. The naked truth may stain

Their souls, making them yell why? But someday when the sky is blue
Again they will understand that it was all a part of the journey. It was
All a part to saving one life, which is only yours. It may echo through

The empty house that might tremble like an earthquake, but the buzz
Finally clears and you stand there with the answers that make sense.
It is like all the overgrowing weeds and the clouds that used to cause

Worry has disappeared into the surrounding atmosphere. The fence
That separates you from the rest of the world has crumbled into ash.
It is like life’s naysayers, worries and doubts are all in the past tense

Because what happened in the past has no place in the now. You dash
Into the pouring rain so you can feel alive and to hear something other
Than the voices that live in your head. There are days when you crash

And burn, but you still keep going on with one step at a time to another
Fork in the road. Where should you go? Whichever way gets you further.


#MaryOliver