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Ep. 1 Your One Wild & Precious Life
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver, 1992
Instagram: @keepingkings
Blog: counttheluminousthings.com
Hey guys, it’s Monica Jean, welcome to Count The Luminous Things. Every day I upload a new episode where I talk about some of my favorite and most inspired pieces of writing, with the hope that it’ll give you something to think about as you go through your day.
This is my first-ever episode and we’re starting off with one of my all-time favorite writers, Mary Oliver.
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By Monica Jean Swanton
4.8
44 ratings
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver, 1992
Instagram: @keepingkings
Blog: counttheluminousthings.com
Hey guys, it’s Monica Jean, welcome to Count The Luminous Things. Every day I upload a new episode where I talk about some of my favorite and most inspired pieces of writing, with the hope that it’ll give you something to think about as you go through your day.
This is my first-ever episode and we’re starting off with one of my all-time favorite writers, Mary Oliver.