Monday, November 21, 2022

A Gift for You - A Flower and A Poem

When I go walking in my neighborhood I walk by a deserted university campus very near my home. In the garden are winter camellias in bloom. They just make me smile. Looking forward to a day next year when the campus again has students roaming the grounds. For now neighbors enjoy walking there and noticing flowers, berries, gorgeous trees, and picking up pinecones and seed pods. I do believe this year I will have a wooden bowl of pinecones and seed pods to decorate my home.

 Lingering in Happiness

After rain after many days without rain,

it stays cool, private and cleansed, under the trees,

and the dampness there, married now to gravity,

falls branch to branch, leaf to leaf, down to the ground

where it will disappear---but not, of course, vanish

except to our eyes. The roots of the oaks will have their share,

and the white threads of the grasses, and the cushion of moss; 

a few drops, round as pearls, will enter the mole's tunnel;

and soon so many small stones, buried for a thousand years,

will feel themselves being touched.

~Mary Oliver

Why I Wake Early

I just thought Mary Oliver would have some special word to say today as we approach Thanksgiving. I really loved these words and images. Can you imagine touching a stone buried for a thousand years?  

In the same family as the flower above, but a different variety is blooming in my own garden. It is camellia sininsis, better known as a tea plant. Can you see the similarities and differences between the two flowers?
 

Have a most delightful week preparing for the season of joy, family, and warm things to sip.

5 comments:

Red Rose Alley said...

Mary Oliver always has the most delightful poems, Marilyn. Thanks for sharing them from time to time. Yes, isn't it amazing when we think about nature and how it forms and stays with us through the decades? Happy Thanksgiving to you, Marilyn. I'm thankful for your dear blog posts and friendship.

~Sheri

Laura Morrigan said...

How lovely that garden sounds! And interesting to know about the different camellias! We have some of the first type in our garden!

Jeanie said...

I started reading the poem -- I didn't know it before -- and thought "That's got to be Mary Oliver." She really nails it, doesn't she?

Linda P said...

We used to live opposite a university campus. There was a lake, mature trees and footpaths through the meadows. Your walk sounds delightful especially as you saw camellias in bloom. The Mary Oliver poem reminds me of woodland walks. The rain refreshes every aspect dripping from branches, soaking into the ground. Creatures receive the droplets of rain with gratitude. I love the imagine of the tunneling mole and the idea of touching ancient stones. Here the air is damp, but that's autumnal weather now.

Lorrie said...

Mary Oliver had such a way with words. I love her imagery and the way her writing leads me to think.
Happy Thanksgiving!