HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

HOLIDAY BLESSINGS WITH MARY OLIVER
(Wouldn't we love to have her over for a holiday dinner!)
 
 
The Beautiful Striped Sparrow
 
In the afternoons,
In the almost empty fields,
I hum the hymns
I used to sing.
 
in church.
They could not tame me,
alas,
and how that feels,
the weight of it,
I will not tell any of you,
 
not ever.
Still, as they promised,
God, once he is in your heart,
is everywhere---
 
so even here
among the weeds
and the brisk trees,
How long does it take
 
To hum a hymn? Strolling
one or two acres
of the sweetness
of the world,
not counting
a lapse, now and again,
of sheer emptiness.
Once a deer
 
stood quietly at my side.
And sometimes the wind
has touched my cheek
like a spirit.
 
Am I lonely?
The beautiful, striped sparrow,
serenely, on the tallest weed in his kingdom,
also sings without words.
 
 
Praying
 
It doesn't have to be
The blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
 
a few words together, and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but a doorway
 
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
 
 
The most merriest of holidays to all of you.. Thank you and wishing you health and happiness.
 
Wendy Allen