One or two things are all you need
to travel over the blue pond, over the deep
roughage of the trees and through the stiff
flowers of lightning–––some deep
memory of pleasure, some cutting
knowledge of pain.
For years and years I struggled
just to love my life. And then
the butterfly
rose weightless, in the wind,
“Don’t love your life
too much,” it said,
and vanished
into the world.
––– Mary Oliver, lines from “One or Two Things”
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Ripple Effects 
What a wonderful photo. When I got to “the deep roughage of trees,” I thought, “Mary Oliver?” Indeed. And it’s so typically her imagery.
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For me, these lines particularly jumped out, and I thought, what wisdom: “Don’t love your life
too much,” it said,/and vanished/into the world.
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Beautiful.
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Perfectly illustrated with that gorgeous image, Arti.
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A glorious photo — and no one says it better than Mary Oliver.
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Wow – that is a very good word… I hadn’t read that poem before but it’s a keeper. ❤
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Gretchen,
Those lines are excerpt from her poem entitled “One or Two Things”, these are the last lines which caught my attention most powerfully. Do check out the whole poem online. I’m sure you’ll find it insightful.
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