When I found the seal pup alone on the far beach,
not sleeping but looking all around, I didn’t
reason it out, for reason would have sent me away,
I just
went close but not too close, and lay down on the sand
with my back toward it, and
pretty soon it rolled over, and rolled over
until the length of its body lay along
the length of my body, and so we touched, and maybe
our breathing together was some kind of heavenly conversation
in God’s delicate and magnifying language, the one
we don’t dare speak out loud,
not yet.
~ Mary Oliver, from “The Return” in From What Do We Know: Poems And Prose Poems.
Notes: Poem via Words for the Year. Seal pup photo by gemma reddington
Live & Learn 
how compassionate and beautiful –
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Yes. So one can feel this.
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Such beautiful words so well composed David and we do the same with our little golden retriever and she loves it and we too. Loved the little otter
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Yes. Beautiful. We used to have a parrot that did the same.
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Oh so cute
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Absolutely enchanted by the vision that Oliver conjures up. There IS a wonderful, non-verbal discourse that we share with animals. When Beau wraps himself around my head at night, tucks his nose in behind my ear and issues a deep sigh that begins at his toes, I’m almost certain I hear a soft “I love you, Mom” issue forth…
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Gees Lori. That’s beautiful. Wow.
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Awww, thanks pal.
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Lori; I can just feel a warm snout behind my ear snuffling softly – and I’m smiling!
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Words…not necessary.
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Obviously, Mary was not wearing a “Land Shark” outfit that day.
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She was not. 😋
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Oh-h what a wonder-full experience! Oh-h, Mary Oliver!, how you manage to take us in where we love being! And, Oh-h, David, thank you for all you share with us! I am reminded of an early morning (daybreak) in Chatham years ago when a friend and I and her grand daughter went down to the edge of the sea, with a light house in the distance,…and all of a sudden we saw a bunch (20-25) seals swimming nearby and “smiling” at us as they raised their heads up and down–what a morning greeting!
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Wow Valerie. That must have something to see.
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Valerie; this is über-beautiful – I can just imagine (and I’m smiling too…..)
Plus, I wrote my comment before I read yours – so I think we both see the same things, how comforting! 🙂
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Sunday Morning … ‘some kind of heavenly conversation’!!
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Wow this is beautiful I love this, 💕🙏🏼
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Thanks Michelle. Me too…
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Another magical experience this year… love barbara x
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It is Barbara. Happy New Year.
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How beautiful. Breathable goodness.
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Respect and love… so easy when one doesn’t try too hard.
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Heartbreakingly beautiful (and funny!) The little babe looks as if quietly smiling, but with the mournful look of my dachshund (RIP).
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Yes, it does look like a dachshund. Great observation Kiki!
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Beautiful! The wind by the ocean brought this kind of conversation from God to me yesterday, « the one we don’t dare speak out loud ».
Love this post! Thanks.
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Thanks!
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Of all the wonders Mary Oliver offers the world, this one hits home. I once asked a female moose to meet me, nose to nose, and she was willing but as we approached our closeup, my knees gave way and, thanking her, I slowly walked away, feeling her breath and smelling her musky scent. Yikes, my spirit was willing but my body was trying to tell me something. Yet it felt right, turning my back and giving her the advantage for a change. She did me no harm.
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Wow. THAT must have been something.
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’twas.
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