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" Seek the truth and run from

those who claim to have found it "

after André Gide

Mary Oliver

February 9th, 2019

Thanks to Tom Cowan for sharing his beautiful poem honouring Mary Oliver who died recently. Tom’s website can be found here.

Mary Oliver
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.
—from “The Pond” in Felicity

She listened to the earth,
and heard the universe singing.
Or as she might have put it,

This earth, I mean,
this pond,
the light on this tidal pool,
this path through the dunes.”

She was always in a place—
a real place, a truthful now,
and she listened,
knowing the songs of the earth
were merely a part—
but our part—
of the Great Song.

She seemed happy
to hear the small voices—
a wren, a snake, a lily—
singing here, now.

And if she were here, now,
she might say, “Listen! And
don’t worry if you can’t sing.”

No, she did not want to just visit
this place we call earth.
And she didn’t.

She sang about it,
and maybe we should be singing too.

~Tom Cowan
January 2019

3 Responses to “Mary Oliver”

  1. ‘She seemed happy to hear the small voices’ – what beauty. It is an urgent reminder to me, of what I must do. I love Mary Oliver’s voice, she lives on. Thank you Tom Cowan. Poets magic our world.

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