Stopped By The Light

Stopped by the Light, #9371

Being With "Morning Poem," by Mary Oliver

I was just reading aloud the  Mary Oliver poem "Morning Poem" to my husband, Karl.  It made me realize that I misspoke recently when I said I didn't like this book as well as later books. In reality, I just had not taken the time to feel it, read it, appreciate it and "be with it." I believe there is a life lesson here that I get to think more about and be with longer.

7:20a.m. Morning, Birch Lake, Minnesota

Morning Poem

Every morning

the world

is created.

Under the orange

sticks of the sun

the heaped

ashes of the night

turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---

and the ponds appear

like black cloth

on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.

If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere.

And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead ---

if it's all you can do

to keep on trudging ---

there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly,

every morning,

whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy,

whether or not

you have ever dared to pray.

                      Mary Oliver

                      New and Selected Poems, Vol. One, 1992

All About The Light

All About The Light, July 2014

I was laying in bed thinking about making a still life picture, got up, dressed and saw the light coming in from the east window into the purple room aka the guest room.

I quickly grabbed a couple of things, like my camera and my tripod, and hid a couple of other things.

Here's my first photo of the day. It was ALL ABOUT THE LIGHT.