Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness by Mary Oliver
Every year we have been
witness to it; how the
world descends
into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out
to the petals on the ground
to stay,
knowing, as we must,
how the vivacity of what was is married
to the vitality of what will be?
I don't say
it's easy, but
what else will do
if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?
So let us go on
though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.
One of the perks of being an avid reader of The New York Times is the treasures you find. I'm a big fan of the poet Mary Oliver but never read her poem above until I saw it in The Times on Sunday. Serendipity!