Some months, the third Thursday hits a bit earlier than in other months. And sometimes, it catches me unawares! Like yesterday . . . when I realized that I needed a poem for today. But being up north, I don’t have my collection of poetry books at hand, and I didn’t pack one along. (No worries . . . I didn’t pack any underwear either.) (It always takes me a while to get my poop-in-a-group when it comes to the back-and-forth swing of things.)

Luckily, I found this book on our cabin bookshelf! Looks like I had prepared myself for some rainy-day poetry reading. (No such luck with extra underwear, though.)

So Mary Oliver saves the day — as she often does!

Song of the Builders
Mary Oliver

On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God —

a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope

it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.

I found today’s poem in my (cabin) copy of Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems: Volume Two, published by Beacon Press in 2005. If you’re interested in reading more about Mary Oliver, or want to sample some of her other poems, you can click here for more information.

Enjoy your day, everyone!
Keep building the universe, will you?

==========

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!)