This afternoon she touched a slug that was eating my prized penta plants. "It's soft," she said.
Yuk!
Then, on our trip to an apple orchard she had a little visit with a grasshopper.
"Hi, cutie," she said to him.
I have another sister. She does not pick up grasshoppers. But she knows enough about poetry to say, "That reminds me of a Mary Oliver poem about a grasshopper."Well, you don't have to mention Mary Oliver more than once before I'm heading to my book shelf to look up that poem. Here it is:
The Summer Day
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?
- Mary Oliver
:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful site you've created! i happened upon it tonight as i approach the high school graduation celebration & fledgling of my beautiful girl wonder winging her way out of our cozy nest in upstate NY's finger lakes to the wild & wooly west's rocky mountains. Laughed out loud at your chocolate mortar cap making, having already noted my desire to make these, also the day before graduation (but just for 20!)If crazy enough, I may also try rolling up cheese & cold cuts & tying them w/ a chive (or such) to add to the graduation silliness by symbolizing diplomas... But, what i've REALLY been waiting to gel is what i'd like to say to my soon-to-be worldly young woman, and was soooo glad to see my old fave Mary Oliver poem! Thank you so much for the reminder & a sense of this being JUST what i want to share, maybe sing! (i'm in an improv group, Ephemera, that solicits individual written responses from the audience to Mary's query: "what're'ya gonna do w/ your wild & precious life"; incorporating messages from their cards into our song. Maybe i'll get them to join me in a 'live' inquiry!) On another note, how has your 'empty nest syndrome' been? Having been warned that its akin to open heart surgery w/o anesthesia, i'm all ears for lessons you may have learned, and/or tips for the uninitated. Thank you!
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