Form is certainty. All nature knows this, and we have no greater adviser. Clouds have forms, porous and shape-shifting, bumptious, fleecy. They are what clouds need to be, to be clouds. See a flock of them come, on the sled of the wind, all kneeling above the blue sea. And in the blue water, see the dolphin built to leap, the sea mouse skittering; see the ropy kelp with its air-filled bladders tugging it upward; see the albatross floating day after day on its three-jointed wings. Each form sets a tone, enables a destiny, strikes a note in the universe unlike any other.
How can we ever stop looking?
How can we ever turn away?
~ Mary Oliver, from “Staying Alive” in Upstream: Selected Essays (2016)
Photo: Stefan Krauss @ Stars Fell on Livaniana (in Crete near village of Livaniana).
And our only requirement is to truly open our eyes…
Yes, such a low bar to experience it all
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
Strange, how it takes most people ages to start looking. I’m one of them.
But once they start, I’ve never seen anyone stop looking.
And, most of the time they did not go out there looking for what’s missing.
Nature summons them, when they are ready. Or else they would have gone on and on blind, blind…
Yes. All part of the greatest show and mystery. Humans. Earth. All of it.
I know mine came in 2009,
A juvenile Robin spring song every morning at 3:15 am.
The irony is that it was one of the busiest years of my life.
And I was whirled in…
Wow. Wonderful way to pivot. And what a memory.
it is impossible. we cannot. the world is amazing in all its forms.
Yes. And some how it is possible that we miss this on certain days
A flock of clouds on a sled of the wind…isnt that a perfect description? Thank you!
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Yes. Exactly.
Love Mary Oliver’s verse. Clouds may be our first taste of creativity when we’re young, look up at the sky, and proclaim to the world that we see a dinosaur, or a buffalo, or two knights riding their steads. The sad thing is when adults stop proclaiming about the visions in the clouds.
Yes. Yes.
Wonderful both. Text and picture. It wouldn’t look so great if it was in colour. It’s good to be here again.
Yes. Welcome back Christine.
Beautiful questions from Mary! It is a gift and a practice to see the world clearly. 🌻
Beautiful just beautiful.
Oh what Peace exists if only one has quiet eyes and an open mind to see. This is beautiful, as always – thank you for being a supplier of all things gentle and soul-binding
Yes. And yet seemingly so hard to do. Thank you for the kind words.