The Summer Day

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 have I 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

This past month I went on a backpacking trip in the northern Green Mountains with my father. We spent a long weekend hiking and enjoying a preview of the first autumn colors. At one point, we stopped on the shore of a remote marsh which was teeming with trout, birds, and moose tracks. Although we didn’t see the moose, the evidence of it’s greatness left us in awe. Learning to be aware of the bliss and greatness of life is my mantra for the month of September. I am reminded of Mary Oliver’s words which so eloquently remind us of our “one wild and precious life.”