The Hermit Crab (Monday Poem)

by Mary Oliver

 

 

Once I looked inside

    the darkness

        of a shell folded like a pastry,

            and there was a fancy face--

 

or almost a face--

    it turned away

        and frisked up its brawny forearms

            so quickly

 

against the light

    and my looking in

        I scarcely had time to see it,

            gleaming

 

under the pure white roof

    of old calcium.

        When I set it down, it hurried

            along the tideline

 

of the sea,

    which was slashing along as usual,

        shouting and hissing

            toward the future,

 

turning its back

    with every tide on the past,

        leaving the shore littered

            every morning

 

with more ornaments of death--

    what a pearly rubble

        from which to choose a house

            like a white flower--

 

and what a rebellion

    to leap into it

        and hold on,

            connecting everything,

 

the past to the future--

    which is of course the miracle--

        which is the only argument there is 

            against the sea.

 

 

 

from Devotions: the Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Penguin, 2017

 

     

Storage (Monday Poem)

 by Mary Oliver

When I moved from one house to another

there were many things I had no room

for. What does one do? I rented a storage

space. And filled it. Years passed.

Occasionally I went there and looked in,

but nothing happened, not a single

twinge of the heart.

As I grew older the things I cared 

about grew fewer, but were more

important. So one day I undid the lock

and called the trash man. He took

everything.

I felt like the little donkey when

his burden is finally lifted. Things!

Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful

fire! More room in your heart for love,

for the trees! For the birds who own

nothing -- the reason they can fly.

 

 

 

from Devotions: the Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Penguin, 2017

 

I Dream a World (Monday Poem)

by Langston Hughes

 

 

I dream a world where man

No other man will scorn,

Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom's way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be,

Will share the bounties of the earth

And every man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl, 

Attends the needs of all mankind-

Of such I dream, my world!

 

 

 from https://allpoetry.com/I-Dream-A-World