Friday Poetry: Mary Oliver

Happy Friday!

I have had a lovely day today spending time with family and friends.

My chosen poem today is by the American poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019).

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, 
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and 
down -
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated
eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her 
face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. 
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the 
fields,
which is what I have been doing all day. 
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver