The Roses by Mary Oliver
The Roses
Mary OliverOne day in summer
when everything
has already been more than enough
the wild beds start
exploding open along the berm
of the sea; day after day
you sit near them; day after day
the honey keeps on coming
in the red cups and the bees
like amber drops roll
in the petals: there is no end,
believe me! to the inventions of summer,
to the happiness your body
is willing to bear.
MARGINALIA
1.
Happy birthday, dearest Mary Oliver. How you changed my life.
2.
I hope you are walking along the shore in another life, holding hands with Molly, with the sea at your feet, and Percy running wild and free.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in American Primitive by Mary Oliver, published by Back Bay Books, 1980. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“Mary Oliver’s most acclaimed volume of poetry, American Primitive contains fifty visionary poems about nature, the humanity in love, and the wilderness of America, both within our bodies and outside.” (Source)
ABOUT MARY OLIVER
Mary Oliver was born and raised in Maple Hills Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Oliver’s poetry won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award for lifetime achievement. Her last books included A Thousand Mornings (2012), Dog Songs (2013), Blue Horses (2014), Felicity (2015), Upstream: Selected Essays (2016), and Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (2017). Oliver lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Hobe Sound,… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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Peter A Witt
Glorious poem…full of wonder and appreciate for nature…headed for the garden now for a Mary Oliver moment!