What Can I Say
What can I say that I have not said before?
So I’ll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.
Take your busy heart to the art museum and the
chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.
I found Oliver’s collection Swan at the Booksmith this fall, and this first poem stopped me in my tracks, especially the lines about where to take “your busy heart.” As we enter a new year, I am hoping to take my heart to all those places: engaging with the world, noticing and absorbing beauty, and taking time to be in nature and be still.
cakes, tea and dreams 
This intention and the lovely, lovely Mary Oliver poem were such a helpful reminder to me-like a nod towards what matters directed at my distracted activities
It’s lovely, Julie. Thank you. I wonder if Mom would have liked Mary Oliver.
Wow. So powerful. Thank you for sharing.
Gamal A. Smith
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