"To be a song."

More Mary

“When I found the seal pup alone on the far beach,

not sleeping but looking all around, I didn't

reason it out, for reason would have sent me away,

I just

went close but not too close, and lay down on the sand

with my back to it, and

pretty soon it rolled over, and rolled over

until the length of its body lay along

the length of my body, and so we touched, and maybe

our breathing together was some kind of heavenly conversation

in God's delicate and magnifying language, the one

we don't dare speak out loud,

not yet.”

Mary Oliver (poem #5, “The Return” in What Do We Know, p.9)

Poetry was the essence of Mary Oliver—her lifeline. Her spiritual connection to all creaturely things—from dolphin to black snake to snowy owl—was the music of the stars that kept her firmly tethered to the earth. In the book, What Do We Know, she wrote:

“Sometimes I really believe it, that I am going to

save my life

a little.”

She shunned notoriety, and kept her life very private. She did not crave the spotlight. My guess is that the writing was everything to her—it was reward enough. One verse in “The Return” says:

“I do not want to be frisky, or theatrical.

I do not want to go forward in the parade of names.

I do not want to be diligent or necessary or in any way

heavy.

From my mouth to God's ear, I swear it; I want only

to be a song.

To wander around in the fields like a little reed bird.

To be a song.”

I wish we had more people so in love with nature. More people who were willing to spend their time and energy pointing out the loveliness and Godliness of every aspect of creation. We all love a beautiful sunset, but not the coils of a rattlesnake, the lap of ocean waves on a summer day, but not the beach mice that inhabit the dunes. Mary loved it all, and more.

Many of us will go outside on this cold January night to see the total eclipse, the only one that will occur this year, of the Super Blood Wolf Moon. When we do, let's raise a tribute to Mary Oliver who showed us how to love the life all around us. She is the beautiful song of a little reed bird.

                                                                        In the Spirit,

                                                                             Jane