My Mary Oliver Poem #4: "Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond"

 Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond

As for life,

I'm humbled

I'm without words

sufficient to say

how it has been hard as flint,

and soft as a spring pond,

both of these

and over and over,

and long pale afternoons besides, 

and so many mysteries

beautiful as eggs in a nest,

still unhatched

though warm and watched over

by something I have never seen--

a tree angel, perhaps,

or a ghost of holiness.

Every day I walk out into the world

to be dazzled, then to be reflective.

It suffices, it is all comfort--

along with human love,

dog love, water love, little-serpent love,

sunburst love, or love for that smallest of birds

flying among the scarlet flowers. 

There is hardly time to think about

stopping, and lying down at last

to the long afterlife, to the tenderness

yet to come, when

time will brim over the singular pond, and become forever,

and we will pretend to melt away into the leaves.

As for death,

I can't wait to be a hummingbird, 

can you?

- Mary Oliver

The first few stanzas of this poem I felt deeply. Looking over the course of my life, I am nothing short of humbled. In my nearly twenty-two years there has been so much hard, yet so much joy and happiness over and over again. Sometimes all I can say as I look back on my years is wow. And I know there is still so much more to come throughout the rest of my years, so many mysteries waiting to be unhatched. There are so many days when I step out into the world, into nature or the realities of my life that I am dazzled by what is around me--how far I have come, all that I have accomplished, all that I hope to accomplish, the abundant blessings I have received, the beauty that surrounds me, and the great unknown of what is to come. I am comforted by God's love, the love of my family and friends, and the stillness of nature. Sometimes, I am quite envious of nature, it takes its course as directed, there are no human thoughts or worries that drag it down, it just does. Sometimes, I wish I could just do like that. But alas, I cannot. So I will continue to be dazzled by nature's wondrous ways and take comfort in the hummingbirds that fly, the wind that bustles through the trees, the rain that falls, and the waves that crash along the shore.