By Sr. Annie Klapheke, SC Federation Temporary Professed
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It is the season of springtime and Resurrection. All around us, the budding trees and flowers
remind us that new life is always possible, no matter how long or cold the
winter. These signs of new life remind
me of my favorite Mary Oliver poem, The
Singular and Cheerful Life. The
words of this poem offer good advice to anyone who is discerning – which would
be all of us. The advice is this: take a
cue from nature, stop being so anxious, and simple allow yourself to become
what God intended you to be.
The Singular and
Cheerful Life
By Mary Oliver
The singular and
cheerful life
of any flower
in anyone’s garden
or any still unowned field
–
if there are any –
catches me
by the heart,
by its color,
by its obedience
to the holiest of
laws:
be alive
until you are not.
Ragweed,
pale violet bull
thistle,
morning glories
curling
through the field
corn;
and those princes of
everything green –
the grasses
of which there are
truly
an uncountable company,
each
on its singular stem
striving
to rise and ripen.
What, in the earth
world,
is there not to be
amazed by
and to be steadied by
and to cherish?
Oh, my dear heart,
my own dear heart,
full of hesitations,
questions, choice of
directions,
look at the world.
Behold the morning
glory,
the meanest flower,
the ragweed, the thistle.
Look at the grass.
