MARY OLIVER POEMS

and other senses of belonging

Angels, Mary Oliver

You might see an angel anytime

and anywhere. Of course you have
to open your eyes to a kind of
second level, but it’s not really
hard. The whole business of
what’s reality and what isn’t has
never been solved and probably
never will be. So I don’t care to
be too definite about anything.
I have a lot of edges called Perhaps
and almost nothing you can call
Certainty. For myself, but not
for other people. That’s a place
you just can’t get into, not
entirely anyway, other people’s
heads.

I’ll just leave you with this.

I don’t care how many angels can

dance on the head of a pin. It’s
enough to know that for some people
they exist, and that they dance.
I have just said, Mary Oliver
I have just said
something
ridiculous to you
and in response,
your glorious laughter.

These are the days

the sun
is swimming back
to the east
and the light on the water
gleams
as never, it seems, before.

I can’t remember
every spring,
I can’t remember
everything—
so many years!
Are the morning kisses
the sweetest
or the evenings
or the inbetweens?
 All I know
is that “thank you” should appear
somewhere.
So, just in case
I can’t find
the perfect place—
“Thank you, thank you.”
 Wild Geese, Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Invitation, Mary Oliver
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day

for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,

to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
 and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.

It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
Entering the Kingdom, Mary Oliver

The crows see me.

They stretch their glossy necks
In the tallest branches
Of green trees. I am
Possibly dangerous, I am
Entering the kingdom.

The dream of my life

Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees–
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
Lens of attention.

But the crows puff their feathers and cry

Between me and the sun,
And I should go now.
They know me for what I am.
No dreamer,
No eater of leaves.
 Would That I, Hozier

True that I saw her hair like the branch of a tree

A willow dancing on air before covering me
Under cotton and calicoes
Over canopy dappled long ago
True that love in withdrawal was the weepin' of me
That the sound of the saw must be known by the tree
Must be felled for to fight the cold
Fretted fire but that was long ago

[Chorus]
It's not tonight (Oh, oh)
Where I'm set alight (Oh, oh)
And I blink in sight (Oh, oh)
Of your blinding light (Oh, oh)
Oh, it's not tonight (Oh, oh)
Where you hold me tight (Oh, oh)
And the fire bright (Oh, oh)
Oh, let it blaze alright (Oh, oh)
Oh, but you're good to me, oh, you're good to me (Oh, oh)
Oh, but that you're good to me, baby (Oh, oh)

[Verse 2]
With the roar of the fire, my heart rose to its feet
 Like the ashes of ash, I saw rise in the heat
Settled soft and as pure as snow
I fell in love with the fire long ago
With each love I cut loose, I was never the same
Watching still-living roots be consumed by the flame
I was fixed on your hand of gold
Layin' waste to my lovin' long ago

[Chorus]
But that's not tonight (Oh, oh)
Where I'm set alight (Oh, oh)
And I blink in sight (Oh, oh)
Of your blinding light (Oh, oh)
And it's not tonight (Oh, oh)
Where you hold me tight (Oh, oh)
And the fire bright (Oh, oh)
Oh, let it blaze alright, honey (Oh, oh)
Oh, but you're good to me, oh, you're good to me (Oh, oh)
Oh, but you're good to me, baby (Oh, oh)

[Verse 3]
So in awe, there I stood as you licked off the grain
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
As long as amber of ember glows
All the "would" that I'd loved is long ago
 [Chorus]
And it's not tonight (Oh, oh)
Where I'm set alight (Oh, oh)
And I blink in sight (Oh, oh)
Of your blinding light (Oh, oh)
Oh, it's not tonight (Oh, oh)
Where you hold me tight (Oh, oh)
And the fire bright (Oh, oh)
Oh, let it blaze alright (Oh, oh)
Oh, you're good to me, oh, you're good to me (Oh, oh)
Oh, but you're good to me (Oh, oh)
Oh, oh, you're good to me, you're good to me (Oh, oh)
Oh, but you're good to me, baby (Oh, oh)
Take Me to Church, Hozier

[Verse 1]
My lover's got humor
She's the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody's disapproval
I should've worshipped her sooner
If the heavens ever did speak
She's the last true mouthpiece
Every Sunday's getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week
“We were born sick"
You heard them say it
My church offers no absolutes
She tells me “Worship in the bedroom"
The only Heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you
I was born sick, but I love it
Command me to be well

[Pre-Chorus]
Aaa, Amen, Amen, Amen

[Chorus]
Take me to church
 I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

[Verse 2]
If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
Drain the whole sea
Get something shiny
Something meaty for the main course
That's a fine looking high horse
What you got in the stable?
We've a lot of starving faithful
That looks tasty
That looks plenty
This is hungry work

[Chorus]
 Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife
Offer me my deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife
Offer me my deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

[Bridge]
No masters or kings when the ritual begins
There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin
In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene
Only then I am human
Only then I am clean

[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, oh Amen, Amen, Amen

[Chorus]
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
 Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
 Achilles Come Down, Gang of Youths

[Verse 1]
Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, come down
Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof?
You’re scaring us and all of us, some of us love you
Achilles, it’s not much but there’s proof
You crazy-assed cosmonaut, remember your virtue
Redemption lies plainly in truth
Just humour us, Achilles, Achilles, come down
Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof?

[Sample]
Je vois que beaucoup de gens meurent, parce qu'ils estiment que la vie ne vaut
pas la peine d'être vécue. J'en vois d'autres, qui se font paradoxalement tués
pour des idées, pour des illusions, qui leurs donnent une raison de vivre (ce,
qu'on appelle une raison de vivre est en même temps une excellente raison de
mourir)

[Verse 2]
Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, come down
Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof?
The self is not so weightless, nor whole and unbroken
Remember the pact of our youth
Where you go, I’m going, so jump and I’m jumping
 Since there is no me without you
Soldier on, Achilles, Achilles, come down
Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof?

[Pre-Chorus]
Loathe the way they light candles in Rome
But love the sweet air of the votives
Hurt and grieve but don’t suffer alone
Engage with the pain as a motive

[Chorus]
Today, of all days, see
How the most dangerous thing is to love
How you will heal and you’ll rise above

[Sample]
D'un gérant d'immeuble qui s'était tué on disait un jour qu'il avait perdu sa
fille depuis cinq ans, qu'il avait beaucoup changé depuis et que cette histoire
l'avait-

[Verse 3]
Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, jump now
You are absent of cause or excuse
So self-indulgent and self-referential
No audience could ever want you
You crave the applause yet hate the attention
 Then miss it, your act is a ruse
It is empty, Achilles, so end it all now
It's a pointless resistance for you

[Sample]
Ce qui déclenche la crise est presque toujours incontrôlable. Les journaux
parlent souvent de « chagrins intimes » ou de « maladie incurable ». Ces
explications sont valables. Mais il faudrait savoir si le jour même un ami du
désespéré ne lui a pas parlé sur un ton indifférent. Celui‑là est le -

[Verse 4]
Achilles, Achilles, just put down the bottle
Don’t listen to what you’ve consumed
It’s chaos, confusion and wholly unworthy
Of feeding and it’s wholly untrue
You may feel no purpose nor a point for existing
It’s all just conjecture and gloom
And there may not be meaning, so find one and seize it
Do not waste yourself on this roof

[Pre-Chorus]
Hear those bells ring deep in the soul
Chiming away for a moment
Feel your breath course frankly below
And see life as a worthy opponent
 [Chorus]
Today, of all days, see
How the most dangerous thing is to love
How you will heal and you’ll rise above
Crowned by an overture bold and beyond
Ah, it’s more courageous to overcome

[Sample]
Les souvenirs d'une patrie perdue, l'espoir d'une terre promise. Ce divorce
entre l'homme de sa vie-

[Bridge]
You want the acclaim, the mother of mothers
(It’s not worth it, Achilles)
More poignant than fame or the taste of another
(Don’t listen, Achilles)
But be real and just jump, you dense motherfucker
(You’re worth more, Achilles)
You will not be more than a rat in the gutter
(So much more than a rat)
You want my opinion, my opinion you’ve got
(No one asked your opinion)
You asked for my counsel, I gave you my thoughts
(No one asked for your thoughts)
Be done with this now and jump off the roof
(Be done with this now and get off the roof )
 Can you hear me, Achilles? I’m talking to you
I’m talking to you
I’m talking to you
I’m talking to you
Achilles, come down
Achilles, come down

[Sample]
Celle du oui et celle du non. Ce serait trop beau. Mais il faut faire la part de
ceux qui, sans conclure, interrogent toujours. Ici, j'ironise à peine : il s'agit de
la majorité. Je vois également que ceux qui répondent non agissent comme s'ils
pensaient oui. De fait-

[Pre-Chorus]
Throw yourself into the unknown
With pace and a fury defiant
Clothe yourself in beauty untold
And see life as a means to a triumph

[Chorus]
Today, of all days, see
How the most dangerous thing is to love
How you will heal and you’ll rise above
Crowned by an overture bold and beyond
Ah, it’s more courageous to overcome
Working for the Knife, Mitski

[Verse 1]
I cry at the start of every movie
I guess 'cause I wish I was making things, too
But I'm working for the knife

[Verse 2]
I used to think I would tell stories
But nobody cared for the stories I had about
No good guys

[Verse 3]
I always knew the world moves on
I just didn't know it would go without me
I start the day high and it ends so low
'Cause I'm working for the knife

[Verse 4]
I used to think I'd be done by twenty
Now at twenty-nine, the road ahead appears the same
Though maybe at thirty, I'll see a way to change
That I'm living for the knife
 [Verse 5]
I always thought the choice was mine
And I was right, but I just chose wrong
I start the day lying and end with the truth
That I'm dying for the knife
Class of 2013, Mitski

[Verse 1]
Mom, I'm tired
Can I sleep in your house tonight?
Mom, is it alright
If I stay for a year or two?

[Verse 2]
Mom, I'll be quiet
It would be just to sleep at night
And I'll leave once I figure out
How to pay for my own life too

[Verse 3]
Mom, would you wash my back?
This once, and then we can forget
And I'll leave what I'm chasing
For the other girls to pursue

[Outro]
Mom, am I still young?
Can I dream for a few months more?
 Persephone, Tamino
[Verse 1]
Yes my love, I confess to you
I am only here to break your heart in two
The very flower you chose that day
Its only task was to decay
You see?

[Verse 2]
When I watched your first bathing
I only warned you with a lowered voice
"Be wary of my river's undertow
It flows with water from the coldest source"
Did you hear?

[Chorus]
And then I made sure
You would always return
You still know of dawn
But you always return

[Verse 3]
When you hid under my black wings
They couldn't have protected you from anything
Once in flight they would have let go
 You would have once again wound up below
Only broken
[Verse 4]
Indeed, it's wrong to keep you near me
One could call me cruel and deceiving
But in your sacred air I am full of light
Your loving arms are the true delight
To which I'm lost

[Chorus]
And you've noticed it
There is something right here
You have come to love, yes you've come to love
What you always will fear

[Bridge]
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

[Verse 5]
Yes, my love, I confess to you
I've nothing but the means to break your heart in two
My part in yours may seem important now
But with every spring it will seem so small
Just for now I am your fall
I am your fall
I am your fall
Life on Mars?, David Bowie
[Verse 1]
It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No!"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen

[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

[Chorus]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh, man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
 Is there life on Mars?
[Verse 2]
It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns

[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
Because I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

[Chorus]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh, man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
No Children, The Mountain Goats
[Verse 1]
I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a fail-safe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us

I hope the fences we mended

Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late

[Pre-Chorus 1]
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again

[Chorus 1]
In my life
I hope I lie, and tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

[Verse 2]
 I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
And I hope I never get sober

[Pre-Chorus 2]
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way

[Chorus 2]
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die