Poetry Friday is hosted by Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
Our peonies are in full bloom this week, just in time for the rain storms that will also bow their heads deep into the grass and fling their petals far and wide. At the first sign of a downpour, if I am home, I race out to rescue what I can. They are the loveliest flower…why must they have the shortest season in which to bloom?
‘Peonies’ by Mary Oliver
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?
Peonies and Mary Oliver…..their lush, spectacular beauty fills my heart with joy and a renewed committment to work harder at being in the moment. Thank you, Mary Lee.
Yup. What Janet said. (Except for the last two words 😉
Right!!! Too early to comment. Thanks Tara (and Mary Lee!) Remember: nothing gold can stay……..but your teaching and your children’s memories will. (Both of you!)
Peonies are exemplary, aren’t they? Thanks for sharing this, Tara. It’s hard to let that heartbreaking perfection go.
Well, you’ve seen my sharing on FB, and why are they blooms that are so fleeting? I guess it makes us love them even more. Thanks for the love from Mary Oliver!
Lovely peonies and poem with the master Mary.
Oh my, what a poem, and what gorgeous peonies! I envy people who have flowers growing in their yard. We can’t have ANY because of the deer . . . 😦
Wow–another Mary Oliver poem to fall in love with. That ending….just wow! My peonies are still “green fists” but I anticipate their coming wonder. Thanks for sharing this beauty of a poem!
stunning. simply stunning.
Thank you for this beauty.
Obviously I need to become a better gardener. That’s two references to peonies today, and I don’t know them! This poem floods the senses, and though I’m not familiar with the flowers – I am! Through the poem.
This gorgeous poem makes me want to sit outside and watch my peonies “be wild and perfect for a moment…” Thank you for sharing, Tara!
Oh yes, peonies and Mary Oliver–lovely. Our peonies have bloomed and gone. Even though the flowers are fleeting, I am thankful the plants are sturdy and come back year after year to bloom again.
Thank you! So beautiful! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Tara. Ahhhhh. Peonies and Mary Oliver. I also was inspired by peonies this week, although perhaps not as thoroughly as Mary Oliver, in her way of looking right into the nectar.
Thanks Tara, for this beautiful poem of “Peonies” by Mary Oliver and your lovely flowers! Mine are blooming now and will be gone soon.