postcards from paradise summer's garden

 

this morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready

to break my heart

as the sun rises,

as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

 

and they open-

pools of lace,

white and pink -

and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes

into the curls,

craving the sweet sap,

taking it away

to their dark, underground cities-

and all day 

under the shifty wind,

as in a dance to the great wedding,

 

the flowers bend their bright bodies,

and tip their fragrance to the air,

and rise,

their red stems holding

 

all that dampness and recklessness

gladly and lightly,

and there it is again-

beauty the brave, the exemplary,

 

blazing open.

Do you love this world?

Do you cherish your humble and silky life?

Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,

and softly,

and exclaiming of their dearness,

fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,

their eagerness

to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are

nothing, forever?

mary oliver

postcards from paradise....

where did your wild and trembling heart take you?

Comments

[Magical Mystical Teacher]

Could you take me for a walk in your garden someday, please? :-)

[Sue Fox]

Here of course, where beauty is cultivated in sweet blooming friendships.

Love Sue x

[Noelle]

Rebecca,
This is so lush and beautiful and you know, I honestly thought that Mary's words were your own until I reached the end of the poem. You always write so beautifully and so well that I would have sworn it sounded just like you. Thank you for this sumptuous feast of color and floral beauty with honey on the side this morning.
Love,
Noelle x

[Sarah]

Gorgeous Rebecca! My heart took me to see my squash and to pick sweet peas which are growing up through the bamboo. x

[jenny f]

Coming here always make me happy, thank you Rebecca.

[Noelle]

I am linking Nanka's post. You must see it. It is simply beautiful. So moving. I will tell her.
xoxox,
Noelle

[Nanka]

Thank you Noelle and you are such a dear an Angle in disguise!!
Mwaahs!!

Rebecca!!... these radiant and vibrant beauties are picture perfect and are straight from a Paradise on earth!! It felt heavenly walking down Paradise lane!!

Nanka

[Deb Taylor]

OK...now I am in the right place... postcards, haiku, beautiful photos...I am dizzy on vacation....no matter what the day, it is always the right place to be when I visit you here, my Dear

[Karen Gerstenberger]

Those photos are so rich and beautiful that they are almost shocking to the senses. Thank you for this tender "wake up" call from you, and Mary Oliver. HUGS to your dear, beautiful heart.

[leslie]

i so love mary oliver's poetry... and your heart.

[missing moments]

Beautiful flowers ... and I love love love Mary Oliver!