THE SUN ~ Mary Oliver, 1992
Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone –
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance –
and have you ever felt for anything
such a wild love –
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there.
empty-handed –
or have you too
turned from the world –
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
The poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019) wrote poems about nature to express her spirituality. I make art about nature to settle my spirit. As with her words, I hope my observations of the astounding physical world reflect my gratitude for the solace nature bequeaths. The awe I experience in encounters with nature is difficult to communicate. The artistic challenge is to represent these observations and perceptions in a form that translates the indispensable quality of my astonishment.
