Gratitude . . . is a word that comes to mind for most of us in November, isn’t it?
I’m not one to write out my “gratitudes” in a list – although I know many people who love this daily practice, and feel enriched by the doing of it. I’ve tried it, but it’s not for me; it doesn’t “fit” quite right for me, personally. My gratitude . . . is forever humming just under the surface – a part of everything I feel, everything I do. I’m . . . grateful for everything, all the time. And I hope that comes through in the way I live my life.
Here on this third Thursday, I’m sharing a poem from that Master of Gratitude . . . Mary Oliver. Enjoy!
Messenger
Mary OliverMy work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these b0dy-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
I found today’s poem in a little volume called The Way of Gratitude: Readings for a Joyful Life, edited by Michael Leach, James T. Keane, and Doris Goodnough, published in 2017 by Orbis Books.
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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.)
I don’t know if I’ve heard this Mary Oliver poem before, but thank you for sharing it now. Especially when I’m finding it hard to love the world (or parts of it, anyway), but I’ve never thought to be grateful for “the quickening yeast”. I surely will be whenever I bake rolls and bread from now on, and sometimes sheep in the field can astonish me. Thank you!
This is a perfect example of why Mary Oliver was the master of simple gratitude! Like you, I don’t make lists of what I’m grateful for but rather try to have a general state of gratitude throughout the day. There are so many beautiful, miraculous things in the world to treasure if we only stop to notice them.
Love this! Thanks for sharing.
“My work is loving the world… Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.”
So much to be said for loving and paying attention. Thanks for this poem.
I Love “which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” What a wonderful line. What a beautiful poem. Thank you.
I love the idea of standing still and learning to be astonished. A great lesson for all of us, I think, and one I’d like to put into daily practice.