CURRENT MOON

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Pretty Much How I Sleep, Even Inside, These Days


Sleeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver

I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.

Picture found here.

1 comment:

Lilith Sativa said...

Thank you for these gifts of poetry. They are a beautiful part of my day. I enjoy all you write, but the poetry you choose to share, always resonates deeply with me. Before reading your blog, I had never heard of Mary Oliver or Georg Trakl and now I'm entranced by their work.