Peonies

Posted by Maverick ~ on April 20, 2016
Posted in: Flowers, Photography, Poetry. Tagged: , , , .

20160417-IMG_0070

Peonies
By Mary Oliver

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open —
pools of lace,
white and pink —
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

20160417-IMG_0075

to their dark, underground cities —
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again —
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

20160415-IMG_0833-Edit

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

20160415-IMG_0835

20 comments on “Peonies”

  4. Very nice. I remember when I was little seeing peony buds (similar to those in your last photo) covered with ants. I asked my mom why the ants were all over them and she said the ants help open the buds so there would be flowers. I thought it was pretty cool that the ants did that.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Your photos are absolutely gorgeous! The poem is perfect, all of nature is so fragile, us included. My favorite part is the last stanza of the poem, ending with a question. Okay, today is the day, a good one! 🙂 Mia

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you Mia and so true regarding nature and us. Well said. Hope you did have a good day and also have a good evening. Not great though because we want to slowly build up to that for your Saturday. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      • You’re welcome and thank you. Laughing, let’s hold of on anything pleasant until Saturday, ha-ha! But today was hump day and we both survived and tomorrow I thought was “our day”, I know I’m scattered brained, did I remember correctly? Due to Thursday being the eve of Friday. Ha-ha! So tomorrow can definitely be a little better than okay. With all this said, have a okay but not so great evening. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      • I thought Friday was our day and Saturday was your day but we can make Thursday our day too, lol. You can have a very very good evening, especially since writing that wonderful poem. ❤

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.