Titanic Post

Messenger
by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird
——equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plumbs.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
——keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
——astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
——and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
——to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
——that we live forever.