Mary Oliver on why life should be lived with energy and intentionality.

The photo is of a gardener whose 100th birthday has passed. And he is sowing seeds with the expectation of organic veggies next year!

A poem. About why life is good, and why it is important to receive it as a gift and enjoy it as a blessing. Mary Oliver understands that mixture of hard-headed strategy and wistful longing that recognises life only happens once, and is precious and is not ever to be devalued as mere routine, or wasted through unamazed disdain. We are ourselves God's investment, created by a love that knows our possibilities, capax dei, "dust, but glorious dust", as Richard Holloway once wrote in a magnificent reflection.

When Death Comes

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement:

I was a bridegroom, taking the world

into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder

if I have made of my life something

particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing

and frightened

or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having

visited this world.

Comments

[barry ballard]

tom. i love your site. i'll cross link it on my blog and i hope you'll do the same for me. i especially liked this poem. i'm suffering from the fallout from a massive stroke and life is tough right now. jurgen moltmann is a personal friend of mine and my blog is a series of lectures on his theology. let's keep hope alive my brother. all the best, barry ballard

[barry ballard]

i guess i should give you my site

lecturesonjurgenmoltmann.blogspot.com

thanks again

[Jim Gordon]

Hello Barry. Glad you have found help through some of the posts here. Sorry to hear you have been unwell and hope you are recovering something of your previous strength. Anyone who knows Moltmann is privileged to be the friend of one of our greatest Christian thinkers - a judgement you obviously share. Blessings on you Barry, and may you know the shalom of God.