June 18, 2026

Do you have a favorite poem? Perhaps like me you have a wealth of them.  Four times this week people around me have talked about concerns regarding their life purpose. Are they on the right path, they wonder? Mary Oliver answers that question better than anyone I know.

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, yet still 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.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing,
since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
               and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
               to the moth and the wren,
               to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
               that we live forever.

~ Mary Oliver, from her book, Thirst

Why — I can’t help but wonder — does it take us so long to learn to let astonishment be our purpose, sharing with all of life what we have learned from awe: that we are all forever-beings?  

This poem is like the whisper of my soul giving reminders.  Feel free to hit reply here and tell me what poem speaks for your soul.  I’d love to hear if you have time.