Walking Home by Mary Oliver

I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later I realized that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of an enormous wave.

Ernest Shackleton


Life is reflected in nature, and strong parallels run between the two.  Clouds with a low ceiling can make us feel oppressed by their heaviness, similar to the emotional stress cloaked around our shoulders and neck.  As the rolling clouds take on a darker form, our problems also seem to multiply.  We might be dreading personal consequences while the clouds begin to threaten and rumble.  Our phone rings breaking our imagined sense of  safety and  bolts of lightening strike out of the sky.  It is good news arriving by phone, and there seems to be a clearing in the sky.  The relaxing sense of relief begins to evacuate our tension.  Just when we allow our selves to believe everything can be worked out, we realize there was not a clearing in the sky, but rather another large wave coming right at us.  In the distance, we hear sirens going off predicting more turbulent times, and we search for shelter where we can discover a way to survive.

Gratefully, life is not always this dramatic, but the point is how we use nature for comparisons:  out of the woods, storm passes, drowning, blown away, dead weight, etc...  Nature is the very form many poets use to express their most inner feelings.  There is an identity that is easily embraced.



WALKING HOME FROM OAK~HEAD
Mary Oliver

There is something
     about the snow - laden sky
        in winter
            in the late afternoon

that brings to the heart elation
     and the lovely meaninglessness
        of time.
            Whenever I get home ---whenever---

somebody loves me there.
     Meanwhile
        I stand in the same dark peace
            as any pine tree,

or wander on slowly
     like the still unhurried wind,
        waiting,
            as for a gift,

for the snow to begin
     which it does
        at first casually,
            then, irrepressibly.

Wherever else I live ---
     in music, in woods,
        in the fires of the heart,
            I abide just as deeply

in this nameless, indivisible place,
     this world,
        which is falling apart now,
            which is white and wild,

which is faithful beyond all our expressions of faith,
     our deepest prayers.
        Don't worry, sooner or later I'll be home.
            Red-cheeked from the roused wind,

I'll stand in the doorway
     stamping my boots and slapping my hands,
        my shoulders
            covered with stars.
       

The Artist Within

The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising and gave to it neither power nor time.

Mary Oliver

Individuals every where have a special gift or talent.  Unfortunately, many of us take the gift or talent for granted or never use it at all.  If we channel our gift into a creative expression, it would allow us to feel more satisfied, complete or full.

When we use our gift, we generate a higher level of self-esteem  which impacts our body, mind, and spirit.   We physically feel better, we have more clarity from stress relief, and might even be able to share or teach our talent to someone else.

Whether it is writing poetry, playing tennis or designing a flower garden, creative expression adds depth to our sense of living.  The self-imposed expectation of perfection often crimps our flair or stops us dead in our tracks.  The desire to master adds more pressure to our attempt to simply enjoy and drags competition along with it.  We need to be free and not limit ourselves through self-criticism and judgment. 

Discover  a desire or passion  for something whether it be antiquing, photography or art.  If we do not have a sense of what we want to do, explore classes or community resources.  Experience several opportunities until something really resonates.  If we already know our strength, we can volunteer at a kids club or senior center to share what we do best.  We can create an art studio or a writing room or a sacred place in the corner of a room. 

The importance of blending creative expression into our lives is that it makes us expand our awareness of ourselves and helps us to feel more alive.  It reduces our mind chatter and assists us in connecting with other levels of reality.  What is that old saying, "Use it or lose it!"

Poets and Poems

For poems are not words after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.   ~Mary Oliver



Poetry never held my attention, until I discovered poets who really resonated with me:  Kahlil Gibran, Hafiz, Rumi, Mary Oliver, John O'Donohue, and David Whyte to name just a few.  A brief line of a poem can  provoke insight better than a lengthy book.

There are several volumes of poems on my shelf, and in each collection there may be only one or two poems to my liking.  In today's world, however, it is ever so easy to get on line and explore a variety of poets without spending a penny.  This resource makes it exceedingly easier to choose a book of poetry that is best suited for your taste prior to purchasing.

Having a small book of poems by your bedside (allows for a calming of your mind at the end of the day), in the kitchen (a sense of renewal while heating up dinner), or even in the guest bathroom (a small reprieve in the midst of a busy day) comes in really handy!

During exploration, you will discover how a poet from another century can express your exact thoughts or feelings in our modern day.  Their words make history come alive.  Words strung together reach out to us over a span of time, connecting us in a very personal way.

Favorite poets or poems grow to be like old friends.  The words can comfort, encourage and inspire.  Who knows, there may be a poem resting within just waiting for you to jot it down! 

Quote from Mary Oliver

I stood willingly and gladly in the characters of everything -
other people, trees, clouds.  And this is what I learned, that the
world's otherness is antidote to confusion - that standing within
this otherness - the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books - can re-dignify the worst strung-heart.

Mary Oliver
American Poet
(September 10, 1935)



Life brings challenges, some we are prepared for while others we are not.  We can easily become confused when we try to resolve our challenges, but we are not responding from a balanced emotional or physical state.  Frequently, we will find ourselves withdrawing rather than reaching out to resources surrounding us.

When we find ourselves indecisive, we can bring balance to our decision making by spending time out in nature with a quiet mind or deep into a favorite book where insights might arise.  This gives our thought process time to consider options that might not be apparent if we have withdrawn into ourselves dispondent.  

General anxiety can be calmed if we just take pause.  Step back from the situation and breathe.  Do not react impulsively.  Contemplate and then act out of informed decision.

By spending more time out in the beauty and mystery of nature, we feel more connected to all that is.  We do not feel quite as separate or overwhelmed.  When we quietly open ourselves to surrounding guidance, we will be nudged in the direction we need to go.

 

 

Can You Imagine, by Mary Oliver

  



CAN YOU IMAGINE?

by Mary Oliver

For example, what the trees do
not only in lightening storms
or the watery dark of a summer’s night
or under the white nets of winter
but now, and now, and now – whenever
we’re not looking. Surely you can’t imagine
they don’t dance, from the root up, wishing
to travel a little, not cramped so much as wanting
a better view, or more sun, or just as avidly
more shade – surely you can’t imagine they just
stand there loving every
minute of it, the birds or the emptiness, the dark rings
of the years slowly and without a sound
thickening, and nothing different unless the wind,
and then only in its own mood, comes
to visit — surely you can’t imagine
patience, and happiness, like that.

The Journey by Mary Oliver

THE JOURNEY

by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice -

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you did not stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations -

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by litte,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice,

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do -

determined to save

the only life that you could save.

No Matter How Lonely ...

Wild Geese 

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again. 

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

© Mary Oliver