Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese" is one of my favorite poems. Today, I discovered that my post on the poet Miguel de Unamuno (highlighting his incredible poem Throw Yourself Like Seed) was highlighted in the comments of a post on the political blog DailyKos.
While I was checking out the comments, I noticed someone posted Oliver's poem "In Blackwater Woods." It's another fine poem. So I thought I would post it on my site as well.
As a compliment to the poem, I chose one of my favorite Monet's. This one can be purchased from here.
In Blackwater Woods
Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars
of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,
the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders
of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is
nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned
in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side
is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
-- Mary Oliver
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