I don’t know where prayers go,
or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it
crosses the street?
The sunflowers? The old black oak
growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
of little importance, in full
self-attendance. A condition I can’t really
call being alive.
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
or does it matter?
The sunflowers blaze, maybe that’s their way.
Maybe the cats are sound asleep. Maybe not.
While I was thinking this I happened to be standing
just outside my door, with my notebook open,
which is the way I begin every morning.
Then a wren in the privet began to sing.
He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,
I don’t know why. And yet, why not.
I wouldn’t persuade you from whatever you believe
or whatever you don’t. That’s your business.
But I thought, of the wren’s singing, what could this be
if it isn’t a prayer?
~Mary Oliver, “I Happened to Be Standing” from A Thousand Mornings
Notes: Poem Source: Thank you Make Believe Boutique. Photo: Seb Rogo
i love this, and think we each express the miracle of just being alive for another day in some way
Yes.
It is…perhaps all full-throated songs in the air – both heard and not – are indeed prayers.
Yes
@mimijk – I like your way of seeing things 🙂
Oh to see the world through her eyes and heart! 🌿🌈
Yes. And how beautifully she manages to out what she sees and feels to paper. Amazing.
A murmuration followed by a wren ‘positively drenched in enthusiasm.’ Don’t think my weekend can get much better! And Mary Oliver? No words….
Yes. Yes. Yes.
You have nailed it with this selection David. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you Eunice. You too.
What a touching and beautiful prayer…. Maybe many of us needed this? Thank You, it’s ‘just right’ for this 2nd Advent Sunday.
Yes. We do Kiki. Many of us.
cats, possum, trees, wrens teach us how to pray and live. Amen.
There you have it Perpetua.
“He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,
I don’t know why. And yet, why not.”
*Thumbs-up*
👍👍👍