In the Days of Growing Darkness

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, cheerfully enough,

this and every crisping day,

though the sun be swinging east,

and the ponds be cold and black,

and the sweets of the year be doomed.

 

This time of year you may also enjoy Solstice Poem by Margaret Atwood (the journal post features a companion winter solstice practice) and Winter’s Cloak by Joyce Rupp. For more on Mary Oliver, check out her On Being interview, Listening to the World.