leeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver
I thought the earth remembered me,
She took me back so tenderly
Arranging her skirts
Her pockets full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before
A stone on the riverbed,
Nothing between me and the white fire of the stars,
But my thoughts.
And they floated light as moths
Among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
Breathing around me.
The insects and the birds
Who do their work in darkness.
All night I rose and fell,
As if water, grappling with luminous doom.
By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times
Into something better.
Thoughts: Our poet this week, Mary Oliver, reminds us what we will soon be able to experience once again when spring rolls around. The speaker describes a serene night in the forest and the emotions she ties to her connection with nature. Our speaker points out that “[the earth] took [her] back so tenderly” as if to say our connection with nature is always strong, even when we are forced away from it or choose to be separated. Nature is described as a woman “arranging her skirts/ Her pockets full of lichens and seeds,” which allows her to be more relatable and comparable to a loving mother making sure everything is ordered and in its place, no matter the chaotic method she chooses. Oliver captures the true essence of the relationship between man and the natural world in this poem, conveying the fact that we are like “stone[s] on the riverbed,/ Nothing between [us] and the white fire of the stars,/ But [our] thoughts.” The material world provides a false sense of peace, but the natural world is man’s true environment for tranquility and serenity; when we immerse ourselves in the world of our ancestors we integrate our beings into “something better”, and find the true meaning of peace.SEE IT ON UPPOAR
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