#a thousand mornings

“Though sometimes I had to run hard— especially from melancholy — not to be held back.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Hum, Hum”, first published c. 2012.

“We—so clever, and ambitious, and selfish, and unrestrained—are only one design of the moving, the vivacious many.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; The Moths, The Mountains, The Rivers”, first published c. 2012.

“When I lived under the black oaks I felt I was made of leaves.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Life Story”, first published c. 2012.

“But it’s not. Of course I have to give up, but by then I’m half crazy with the wonder of it—the abundance of the leaves, the quietness of the branches, the hopelessness of my effort. And I am in that delicious and important place, roaring with laughter, full of earth-praise.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Foolishness? No, it’s Not”, first published c. 2012.

“I was the pond lily, my root delicate as an artery /my face like a star / my happiness brimming.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Life’s Story”, first published c. 2012.

“My body says: let me up and out, I want to fondle / those soft white flowers, open in the night.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; An Old Story”, first published c. 2012.

“Today I’m flying low and I’m not saying a word. I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Today”, first published c. 2012.

“Tongue on fire. Heart of stone.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Out of the Stump Rot, Something”, first published c. 2012.

“Also the words of poets / a hundred or hundreds of years dead / their words that would not be held back.”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; Hum, Hum”, first published c. 2012.

“Is a prayer a gift, or a petition, or does it matter?”

— Mary Oliver, from “A Thousand Mornings; I Happened To Be Standing”, first published c. 2012.