Leaves and Blossoms Along the Way: A Poem
By Mary Oliver

If you’re John Muir you want trees to

live among. If you’re Emily, a garden

will do.

Try to find the right place for yourself.

If you can’t find it, at least dream of it.

•

When one is alone and lonely, the body

gladly lingers in the wind or the rain,

or splashes into the cold river, or

pushes through the ice-crusted snow.

Anything that touches.

•

God, or the gods, are invisible, quite

understandable. But holiness is visible,

entirely.

•

Some words will never leave God’s mouth,

no matter how hard you listen.

•

In all the works of Beethoven, you will

not find a single lie.

•

All important ideas must include the trees,

the mountains, and the rivers.

•

To understand many things you must reach out

of your own condition.

•

For how many years did I wander slowly

through the forest. What wonder and

glory I would have missed had I ever been

in a hurry!

•

Beauty can both shout and whisper, and still

it explains nothing.

•

The point is, you’re you, and that’s for keeps.