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Mary Oliver - The Kingfisher

The kingfisher rises out of the black wave
like a blue flower, in his beak
he carries a silver leaf. I think this is
the prettiest world--so long as you don't mind
a little dying, how could there be a day in your 
	whole life
that doesn't have its splash of happiness?
There are more fish than there are leaves
on a thousand trees, and anyway the kingfisher
wasn't born to think about it, or anything else.
When the wave snaps shut over his blue head, the 
	water
remains water--hunger is the only story
he has ever heard in his life that he could
	believe.
I don't say he's right. Neither
do I say he's wrong. Religiously he swallows the 
	silver leaf
with its broken red river, and with a rough and
	easy cry
I couldn't rouse out of my thoughtful body
if my life depended on it, he swings back
over the bright sea to do the same thing, to do it
(as I long to do something, anything) perfectly.

Added: Feb 20 2003 | Viewed: 4384 times | Comments (0)


The Kingfisher - Comments and Information

Poet: Mary Oliver
Poem: The Kingfisher
Volume: House of Light
Year: Published/Written in 1990
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