A Poem for a Thursday #253

It has been a while since I have shared a Mary Oliver poem. I always enjoy her descriptions of the nature surrounding her. Her words provide such clear mental images and evoke feelings of peace even when the poems are not happy. I like the line “This is how it has been, and this is how it is”. It seems to combine the cyclical seasons with the cyclical nature of our lives.

August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.
I have not been here for many years
during which time I kept living my life.
Like the heron, who can only croak, who wishes he 
could sing,
I wish I could sing.
A little thanks from every throat would be
appropriate.
This is how it has been, and this is how it is:
All my life I have been able to feel happiness,
except whatever was not happiness,
which I also remember.
Each of us wears a shadow
But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another,
Soon now, I'll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I'll be singing. 

The Pond
Mary Oliver