Friday, May 28, 2010

Peonies

Peonies
 This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready  to break my heart  as the sun rises,  as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers   and they open -  pools of lace,  white and pink -  and all day the black ants climb over them,

 boring their deep and mysterious holes  into the curls,  craving the sweet sap,  taking it away   to their dark, underground cities -  and all day  under the shifty wind,  as in a dance to the great wedding,   the flowers bend their bright bodies,  and tip their fragrance to the air,  and rise,  their red stems holding
 all that dampness and recklessness  gladly and lightly,  and there it is again -  beauty the brave, the exemplary,   blazing open.  Do you love this world?  Do you cherish your humble and silky life?  Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?   Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,  and softly,  and exclaiming of their dearness,  fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,   with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,  their eagerness  to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are  nothing, forever? 
-- Mary Oliver

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