the things of this world that are kind, and also troubled

That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying

I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had His hands in this,

as well as friends.
Still, I was bent
and my laughter,
as the poet said,

was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel
(brave even among lions),
“It’s not the weight you carry

but how you carry it –
books, bricks, grief –
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot and would not,
put it down.”
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?

Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?

How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe

also troubled –
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves,
a love
to which there is no reply?

~ Mary Oliver

Thank you to my friend Allison for sharing this poem with me.  I adore it.

5 thoughts on “the things of this world that are kind, and also troubled”

  1. thank you, Lindsey for posting this — it speaks to me deeply today. I have suffered a “loss” of late — a major life change that I never saw coming and your words have been a salve to my soul lately

  2. I love this poem. I heard the Beatles singing “carry that weight” in my ears as I read it and it felt good, or at least felt connected

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