Wage Peace
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
Mary Oliver
A lovely, thought-provoking poem paired with a beautiful photo. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love this poem. Never heard it before, so what a treat ~
ReplyDeleteThat is a gorgeous tree.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful picture.
First, thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment...if it weren't for that I may not have stumbled across your spanking new fabulous site here! I love your photos and I will be sure to visit often:)
ReplyDeleteWe are yet another family of summer Maine visitors. We stay in Hancock every summer for a couple of weeks and enjoy every single minute of it....