Of What Surrounds Me

Priest Lake in northern Idaho

Of What Surrounds Me

Whatever it is I am saying, I always
need a leaf or a flower, if not an
entire field. As for sky, I am so wildly
in love with each day’s inventions, cool blue
or cat gray or full
of the ships of clouds, I simply can’t
say whatever it is I am saying without
at least one skyful. That leaves water, a
creek or a well, river or ocean, it has to be
there. For the heart to be there. For the pen
to be poised. For the idea to come.
-Mary Oliver
New and Selected Poems, Part 2