Sunday, September 6, 2015

Mary Oliver: "I Have Decided"






















I have decided to find myself a home in the mountains, somewhere high up where one learns to live peacefully in the cold and the silence. It’s said that in such a place certain revelations may be discovered. That what the spirit reaches for may be eventually felt, if not exactly understood. Slowly, no doubt. I’m not talking about a vacation.

Of course, at the same time I mean to stay exactly where I am.

Are you following me?



"I Have Decided" by  Mary Oliver. Text as published in A Thousand Mornings: Poems (Penguin Press, 2012).

Art credit: "Blur biker," photograph taken on December 3, 2013, by Thomas Toft.


5 comments :

  1. This is one of the many essays of Mary Oliver's that I truly love, she's so relatable in every way. Pure genius.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't explain how much this speaks to me. I love the city yet yearn for the mountains.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I find this breathtaking and deeply breathgiving. What a gift. I’m going to share this at my drop in session today. Thank you universe for Mary Oliver.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Having just returned from a brief respite among the mountains of western North Carolina envying those who live there, still I can follow the poet's wise advice and find revelations, peace, and beauty in the trees and grass scattered across the concrete and steel landscape outside my windows.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A home in the mountains can only be a dream for most, but Mary Oliver puts my feelings into words again and again.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for participating respectfully in this blog's community of readers.