Who Is Cowtown Pattie?

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I was Lillie Langtry in another life, and might have a crush on Calamity Jane.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Mary Oliver

So many things yet to discover in life. Through a simple aimless click, I found the poetry of Mary Oliver. Normally, I am not a reader of verse, though occasionally I will take down a collection of favorites from my own bookshelves to find a particular passage, or recall an author.

If you haven't read any of her poetry, Google a little, sit back and enjoy. Very soul-fulfilling.



The Buddha's Last Instruction

"Make of yourself a light "
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal - a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man, he lay down
between two sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire-
clearly I'm not needed
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
Slowly, beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

4 comments:

joared said...

Lovely descriptive thoughts.

Kay Dennison said...

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hokule'a Kealoha said...

I believe I have posted some of her work in the past I love how she paints a picture with words...

Anonymous said...

Very lovely.

Can you tell I'm catching up backwards, this morning?