Among the Trees with Mary Oliver

The brilliant poet Mary Oliver penned gorgeous poems illuminating intimate moments in and with Nature. One of my favorites is “When I Am Among The Trees,” which she published in 2006 in her grief-driven and spirituality-seeking collection entitled Thirst.  Here it is: 

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

<sigh>

Mary Oliver, you get me. You are my people. It saddens me to know we will never have the great good fortune to read and hear a new poem from you. Still, I am grateful that you wrote and published as much as you did during your eighty-one years, so we who love your words and your spirit may return to both until the end of time.

If you cannot go be among the trees now, take a look at some of the photos and videos of Nature here on this site and immerse yourself as deeply into them as one can from an electronic device. Go easy. Be filled with light. You were made to shine.