Each year I have written a Christmas reflection; this year it is somebody else’s turn. Mary Oliver by name. But first, a brief prelude.
Sometimes thoughts turn into words quickly—this year quick was missing. Blessedly, a friend sent me The World I Live In. Marvelous, was my thought, as I turned the pages to find out more about Mary Oliver.
Mary Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize winner, died in 2019. She left us many gifts. I hope this one lingers with you, as it did with me.
THE WORLD I LIVE IN
I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs.
The world I live in and believe in
is wider than that. And anyway,
what’s wrong with Maybe?
You wouldn’t believe what once or
twice I have seen. I’ll just
tell you this:
only if there are angels in your head will you
ever, possibly, see one.
— Mary Oliver
And, for those of you who want more:
THE PONDS
Every year
the lilies
are so perfect
I can hardly believe
their lapped light crowding
the black,
mid-summer ponds.
Nobody could count all of them—
the muskrats swimming
among the pads and the grasses
can reach out
their muscular arms and touch
only so many; they are that
rife and wild.
But what in this world
is perfect?
I bend closer and see
how this one is clearly lopsided—
and that one wears an orange blight—
and this one is a glossy cheek
half nibbled away—
and that one is a slumped purse
full of its own
unstoppable decay.
Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled—
to cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking
into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing—
that the light is everything—that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.
— Mary Oliver
Merry Chirstmas
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
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