Yesterday, I was introduced to a phrase from Mary Oliver’s poem and went to find more.
Today, here is the whole poem for us to sit with a while and let it do its work in us.
INVITATION
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busyand very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistlesfor a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the airas they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mineand not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thingjust to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
Mary Oliver, ‘Invitation’, from A Thousand Mornings, Penguin Books 2013
~ Thanks to Lisa Morrison… and the last bees of the season on the last thistles of the year