Paintings by Drea

Cobb Creek
By Mary Oliver

It’s morning at the creek-edge
and the question is:
Shall I jump as usual and enjoy,
as I have hundreds of times,
the casual down-thrust of my legs
on the other side?

Certain facts are unavoidable, still
something in me
refuses to abdicate.

I don’t spend much time on it.
I jump
and for the first time in my seventy-seven years
I fall in.

What a beautiful splash!