I am standing
on the dunes
in the heat of summer
and I am listening
to mockingbird again
who is tonguing
his embellishments
and, in the distance,
the shy
weed loving sparrow
who has but one
soft song
which he sings
again and again
and something
somewhere inside
my own unmusical self
begins humming:
thanks for the beauty of the world.
Thanks for my life.
Mary Oliver
Photo: Peter Bowers