My favorite thing about spring is discovery!
I look at each new bud, bloom, and leaf and they are so strikingly new as if I have never seen them before this moment.
Inside their newness, they arrive as old friends who have come for tea.
“Oh how I have missed you, old friend! It has been a long, long winter.”
Invitation
by Mary Oliver
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for 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 air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude—
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this 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.
© 2008 by Mary Oliver
One liner Wednesday is beought to us each week by the lovely Linda Hill. Please visit her blog to read the rules, read other one liners, and possibly join in the fun!
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