Poetry Sunday: The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Yes, yes, I know I've used this one here before. It's a personal favorite of mine: "I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention..." 

When the next summer comes, assuming I'm still here, I'll probably use it again. 

          Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
          With your one wild and precious life?

Enjoy!

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

Comments

  1. jabblogJune 22, 2025 at 2:02 AM

    Someone once asked, in a similar vein, 'What did you do in the dash?' the dash being that mark between the dates of a life - 1914-1956, for example. It is sobering to realise how quickly that dash goes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David M. Gascoigne,June 22, 2025 at 6:16 AM

    You can use this every day, Dorothy, and it will never become jaded or irrelevant, and the re-reading of it only increases the beauty. Most of my one wild and precious life is behind me, but I plan to keep on communing with nature for every minute that remains. Thank you, Mary Oliver, and thank you, Dorothy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersJune 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM

      Communing with Nature is always a worthy use of one's time.

      Delete
  3. Lark June 22, 2025 at 9:32 AM

    This is a good one! I love it, too. And I'm glad you posted it again. :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlanaJune 22, 2025 at 11:25 AM

    One of the steady participants in the Monday music meme I participate in died suddenly on Monday; only 56 years old. Oh, that dash. One rarely knows how long it will be. How many of us take full advantage of our one wild and precious life? I just love the thought processes in this poem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersJune 22, 2025 at 12:02 PM

      Since we don't know how long it is going to be, it is important to treasure every moment and try to live it to its fullest.

      Delete

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