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| Young Great Horned Owl near Bennington Lake in Walla Walla waits for its parents to return with a meal
© Diane B. Reed
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Great Blue Heron © Diane B. Reed
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The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
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 the 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?
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 the 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?
Hi, Diane! Thanks for that reflective & lovely poem. What indeed am I doing with my life? Right now I am grateful that sun has been out most of today, though occasionally behind mackerel-scale clouds. Now I'm eagerly watching to see where the sun will set at 9:09 (after rising at 5:13). We have a row of evergreens across the street, edging the golf course. They stand up like saw-teeth against the Western sky. I watch the spring sunsets as the sun gradually moves Northward towards the Narrows Bridge (but never quite gets there) that leads to the Kitsap Peninsula, then begins to inch Southward towards Mt. Rainier, which is "out" today--H. just went to take a photo of it. We can see it from one special spot on our deck (at least H. can; I require a stool to see it). Anyway--a pretty sunset will climax this good solstice day here in Tacoma, & I hope the same for you in Walla Walla.
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