Mary Oliver - Sunrise
Ivan M. Granger March 21st, 2008
Sunrise
by Mary Oliver
You can
die for it–
an idea,
or the world. People
have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound
to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But
this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought
of China,
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun
blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises
under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?
What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it
whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.
— from New and Selected Poems, by Mary Oliver
/ Photo by M3R /
Today is Good Friday, leading into Easter Sunday — the holiest time of the Christian calendar. It is also Purim on the Jewish calendar, and Holi in India. It’s Nooruz or Nawroz in Muslim countries. It’s the Spring Equinox (accented by the full moon!).
Wherever you live, whatever your religious tradition, this is a sacred time of the year, a reminder of how life has renewed itself and light has overcome the darkness.
On this first spring day remember–
how the sun
blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises
And then take “the deep breath” for all of us.
Have a beautiful day!
|
Mary Oliver
US (1935 - ) |
Mary Oliver was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935.
As a young writer, Mary Oliver was influenced by Edna St. Vincent Millay and, in fact, as a teenager briefly lived in the home of the recently deceased Millay, helping to organize Millay’s papers.
Mary Oliver attended college at Ohio State University, and later at Vassar College.
Mary Oliver’s poetry is deeply aware of the natural world, particularly the birds and trees and ponds of her adopted state of Massachusetts.
Her collection of poetry “American Primitive” won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.
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I love Mary Oliver!
Dear Ivan,
Navroz is a Parsi New year.Its also known as Jamshed Navroz.
Pradnya,
Thanks for adding further clarification. I know many parts of the world consider this to be the beginning of the new year. In some ways that makes more sense to me than to start the new year in the middle of the winter. I guess it comes down to marking the new year at the when the light of the sun is most hidden and just begins its process of self-renewal (winter), or if we wait until the balance of day and night begins to tip in favor of day and light (spring). Maybe we should all just celebrate the new year twice
-
And Emma,
Ditto — I love Mary Oliver too!
Ivan
Ditto about MO-she makes my heart sing …(even when her words bring tears top my eyes).
About the New Year: we have it in the middle of summer down under! Perhaps the New Year should be celebrated over and over just as we are renewed over and over…on a daily basis (Morning has broken…and all that).
The poem today really resonates with me. We can ‘die’ of happiness just as we can ‘die’ of despair. I read the dying as a symbolic transformation-relinquishing, opening, surrendering to something we have not hitherto been and thereby expanding the boundaries of our individual world to include more and more of the outer world. Joy can be the catalyst as can sadness…and ultimately we realise there is no distinciton between me and you…”I am so many…what is my name?” We are joined as one in ‘happiness’.
warmest regards to all,
Joanne