When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness,

I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out,

“Stay awhile.”The light flows from their branches. And they call again,

“It’s simple,” they say,”and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy,

to be filled with light, and to shine.

~Mary Oliver

when the day is hopeful and true….

inquiry for today~ there is only this intention to live well…..

simple ways

The gods are less for their love of praise. Above and below them all is a spirit that needs nothing

but its own wholeness, its health and ours. It has made all things by dividing itself.

It will be whole again. To its joy we come together –the seer and the seen, the eater and the eaten,

the lover and the loved. In our joining it knows itself. It is with us then,

not as the gods whose names crest in unearthly fire, but as a little bird hidden in the leaves

who sings quietly and waits, and sings.

~Wendell Berry