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| Deer in Austin, Texas. (photo by me, April 2012) |
Mary Oliver is my favorite poet. She writes about nature with wonder and reminds me what a magical place, this world can be, if we slow down to notice. I occasionally see deer, when I walk at Blue Sky Reserve, near my home, but when I was in Austin, Texas last month, I saw quite a few deer and each time, I thought of this poem by Mary Oliver.
This
morning
Two deer
In the pinewoods
In the five A.M. mist,
In a
silky agitation,
Went leaping
Down into the shadows
Of the bog
And
together
Across the bog
And up the hill
And into the dense trees --
But
once
Years ago,
In some kind of rapturous mistake
The deer did not run away
But
walked toward me
And touched my hands--
And I have been, ever since,
Separated from my old, comfortable life
Of
experience and deduction--
I have been, ever since,
Exalted--
And even now
Though
I miss the world
I would not go back--
I would not be anywhere else
But stalled in the happiness
Of
the miracle--
Every morning
I stroll out into the fields,
I believe in everything--
I
believe in anything--
Even if the deer are wild again
I am still standing under the dark trees,
They are still walking toward me.
(I'm still in Italy...Returning tomorrow.)
