Final Reflection

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

- Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day"

I can't claim familiarity with Mary Oliver's poetry. But evidently, according to The Poetry Foundation, Mary Oliver was an “indefatigable guide to the natural world, particularly to its lesser-known aspects.”

The question she posed crossed my eyes in the midst of graduation quotes and words of wisdom. I mentioned in a previous blog post that I do believe we are only gifted this one, unique life, so her challenge struck me and stuck fast.

What is it I plan to do with my one wild life?

Mary Oliver (b. 1935, right) with Molly Malone Cook (1925–2005)
at the couple’s home in Provincetown, Massachusetts

Oddly enough, Mary grew up in a small Cleveland suburb not far from where I spent my childhood years. She made quite a success of her one life, growing beyond her tiny town and writing about big ideas through narrow lenses. A mango. A hummingbird.  A banyan. August.

Intrigued, I started browsing her poetry. 

In 1993, she published "What is it?" And who can say what it's about? But I felt drawn to the frogs and lilies, the world I've slept so comfortably in for the past four years. It's a simple, beautiful life. Cool water and soft encasings. But maybe I've rested long enough to be rejuvenated for what comes next. Maybe it's time to be brave enough to accept a new idea; to swim away into the world beyond Pond Drive.

What is it I plan to do with my one wild and precious life?

I guess I plan to see more, do more, learn more. To let myself recognize and enjoy the wild spaces within and beyond me. To appreciate the small beauties, the miracles of natural moments that shimmer bright as diamonds, and to let them be. To look but never disturb, to admire but never lust.

I will never be a true adventurer or someone who can claim they have their toes buried in the wild and their head in the clouds. But this class pushed me to perhaps try a little harder to understand those people. (And to hate Chinese privet with a burning passion.) 

“Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

― Mary Oliver, "Sometimes"