In honor of tomorrow’s holiday, I thought a post about gratitude was in order. So today, we’ll be visiting with Mary Oliver. If you’ve never read anything by her, prepare yourself. This woman is magnificent, and I’m convinced her poetry can move even the most stoic and unpoetic of individuals. If you’ve not figured it out from the last two sentences, Mary Oliver is my favorite poet. And she often talks about gratitude. “Messenger”, which is one of the poems in the collection titled Thirst, certainly explores the subject.

Messenger

“My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—

equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium. read more