Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of Mary Oliver’s death, so I was inspired to share one of her poems for today’s Gathering of Poetry. Although I have many (many) favorite Mary Oliver poems, I decided to share one today that isn’t as well-known or oft-quoted as many of my other favorites. This one comes from Blue Horses, her 2014 poetry collection, and was written after she triumphed over a lung cancer diagnosis in 2012. (I’m sharing Part 3 of a 4-part poem.)
The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac (Part 3)
Mary OliverI know, you never intended to be in this world.
But you’re in it all the same.So why not get started immediately.
I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over.And to write music or poems about.
Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.You could live a hundred years, it’s happened.
Or not.
I am speaking from the fortunate platform
of many years,
none of which, I think, I ever wasted.
Do you need a prod?
Do you need a little darkness to get you going?
Let me be as urgent as a knife, then,
and remind you of Keats,
so single of purpose and thinking, for a while,
he had a lifetime.
I love this poem. I love the way it brings us right to the heart of things . . . a poignant reminder that none of us has unlimited time; none of us will “get out of here” alive. So let’s get on with it. Let’s start living immediately!
I think it’s a great sentiment for the beginning of a new year; a fresh start.
Don’t wait.
This poem is from Blue Horses: Poems by Mary Oliver, published by Penguin Group in 2014. Information about the poet can be found here.
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You can find A Gathering of Poetry every month . . . on the third Thursday.
Share some.
Read some.
Gather up some poetry!
(Bonny is hosting a special link-up for A Gathering of Poetry. Be sure to check it out!)
… it’s happened, or not… that phrase is so powerful. Thank you for sharing this beautiful, thought-provoking poem!
“Do you need a prod?” Very often the answer is yes for me, and this poem does it so well. I’m continually amazed at all the Mary Oliver poems I don’t know about, and thank you for sharing this one!
Thank you! A great poem to start this day – “there is so much to admire, to weep over”
Beautiful. And I really feel that part about “a little darkness to get you going” because (sadly) nothing makes us appreciate what we have than the threat or fear of losing it. Thank you for this one.
Yes, so much to all of this! We all hope for many years, but being human is a fatal condition, and most of us don’t know when the end will come, so we might as well live our lives!
Mary Oliver, how I miss her presence. Luckily we still have her poems. This one is lovely. I happen to have a copy of Blue Horses on my shelf. This is a great poem to remind us to live each day.
An unfamiliar (to me) and great poem from Mary Oliver. It makes me think of my Dad who used to say: “Life is an experience that, to the best of my knowledge, no one has survived.” Let’s all get on with it!
five years … I have such vivid memories of the morning I learned she’d passed away. I saw a raindrop hanging on the tip of a loropetalum bloom. Those blooms capture raindrops a lot around here, and now I always think of Mary Oliver and that morning when I see them.