“Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness.”
― Mary Oliver
“Sunset in a Winter Forest” – Julius von Klever, 1904
Julius Sergius von Klever (January 31, 1850 – December 24, 1924) was a Baltic German landscape painter.
“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”
― Mary Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019)
Art – Frantisek (Franz) Dvorak (Czech painter) 1862–1927
Every spring
I hear the thrush singing
in the glowing woods
he is only passing through.
His voice is deep,
then he lifts it until it seems
to fall from the sky.
I am thrilled.
I am grateful.
Then, by the end of morning,
he’s gone, nothing but silence
out of the tree
where he rested for a night.
And this I find acceptable.
Not enough is a poor life.
But too much is, well, too much.
Imagine Verdi or Mahler
every day, all day.
It would exhaust anyone.”
― Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings
Stanley Spencer
A more poetical “Less is more”. The poetry of music is undermined by its continuity…
The song of the thrush is perfect, mysterious, and atoning for all the sadness and grimness of winter…
In my culture there is an old saying “miracles last for two days”. Banality cuts deep also into the birds’ song not just into a fabrication of people that is classical music.
Spring is the Renaissance age of the entire year when the marvels of the new earth dictates the rhythm of life.
“In Our Woods, Sometimes a Rare Music
Every spring
I hear the thrush singing
in the glowing woods
he is only passing through.
His voice is deep,
then he lifts it until it seems
to fall from the sky.
I am thrilled.
I am grateful.
Then, by the end of morning,
he’s gone, nothing but silence
out of the tree
where he rested for a night.
And this I find acceptable.
Not enough is a poor life.
But too much is, well, too much.
Imagine Verdi or Mahler
every day, all day.
It would exhaust anyone.”
Mary Oliver – A Thousand Mornings.
Art – Adele Karmazyn
“And then the dry earth begins to anticipate, and then I fall to my knees, and then the flowers cry out, and then the wind breaks open its silver countries of rain.”
– Mary Oliver
Art by Vincent Van Gogh.
I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out,
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall –
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.
– Mary Oliver “I Go Down to the Shore,” A Thousand Mornings
Art by René Magritte.
“But also I say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it’s done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive.”
– Mary Oliver
Art – Gustav Klimt – The Swamp
“Do you need a prod? Do you need a little darkness to get you going?”
– Mary Oliver on the Measure of a Life Well Lived and How to Maximize Our Aliveness by brainpickings.org:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/02/09/mary-oliver-blue-horses-fourth-sign-of-the-zodiac/
www.brainpickings.org is a trailblazing castle of knowledge located in the enchanted forest where ideas dance and glimmer like so many fern flowers.
Donating = Loving
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination…”
– Mary Oliver
Art by Albert Marquet.
