I have decided to find myself a home in the mountains, somewhere high up where one learns to live peacefully in the cold and the silence. It’s said that in such a place certain revelations may be discovered. That what the spirit reaches for may be eventually felt, if not exactly understood. Slowly, no doubt. I’m not talking about a vacation.
Of course, at the same time I mean to stay exactly where I am.
Are you following me?
"I Have Decided" by Mary Oliver. Text as published in A Thousand Mornings: Poems (Penguin Press, 2012).Art credit: "Blur biker," photograph taken on December 3, 2013, by Thomas Toft.
This is one of the many essays of Mary Oliver's that I truly love, she's so relatable in every way. Pure genius.
ReplyDeleteI can't explain how much this speaks to me. I love the city yet yearn for the mountains.
ReplyDeleteI find this breathtaking and deeply breathgiving. What a gift. I’m going to share this at my drop in session today. Thank you universe for Mary Oliver.
ReplyDeleteHaving just returned from a brief respite among the mountains of western North Carolina envying those who live there, still I can follow the poet's wise advice and find revelations, peace, and beauty in the trees and grass scattered across the concrete and steel landscape outside my windows.
ReplyDeleteA home in the mountains can only be a dream for most, but Mary Oliver puts my feelings into words again and again.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this poem mean exactly? I understand the part where she wants to be in a place with peace and silence, but she also wants to stay where she is. In the end, she asks, 'Are you following me?' By this question, it seems that she herself is confused about what she is really saying.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mary Oliver, I'm following you. I feel the paradox of wanting to be somewhere else for its peace and beauty in nature and also exactly where I am right now in a beloved home.
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