Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches? // Mary Oliver

[iatrogenicmyth]

Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches of other lives-
tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey, hanging
from the branches of the young locust trees, in early morning, feel like?

Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?

Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides
with perfect courtesy, to let you

Comments

[presentpossible]

"Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself
continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?"

yessss

[iatrogenicmyth]

my favorite part is: "listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?"

I couldn't BELIEVE that this poem wasn't in the tags/memories.

[redcliches]

What book is this from?

[iatrogenicmyth]

the google tells me that it's from "west wind."

a friend sent it to me a long time ago & it's been a favorite since.

[ipsenaut]

Thank you, this is beautiful. +memories