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You are here: Home / Wisdom Wednesdays / A Dream of Trees by Mary Oliver

A Dream of Trees by Mary Oliver

March 14, 2012 by Jeane George Weigel

Such a beautiful reminder that, as peaceful as it sounds, we don’t get to leave life in order to make our art. In fact we must be engaged with it or no art will be born.

A DREAM OF TREES

There is a thing in me that dreamed of trees,
A quiet house, some green and modest acres
A little way from every troubling town,
A little way from factories, schools, laments.
I would have time, I thought, and time to spare,
With only streams and birds for company,
To build out of my life a few wild stanzas.
And then it came to me, that so was death,
A little way away from everywhere.

There is a thing in me still dreams of trees.
But let it go. Homesick for moderation,
Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away.
If any find solution, let him tell it.
Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.

I would it were not so, but so it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?

Mary Oliver

Love to you all,
Jeane


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Filed Under: Wisdom Wednesdays

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