The photo is of a gardener whose 100th birthday has passed. And he is sowing seeds with the expectation of organic veggies next year!
A poem. About why life is good, and why it is important to receive it as a gift and enjoy it as a blessing. Mary Oliver understands that mixture of hard-headed strategy and wistful longing that recognises life only happens once, and is precious and is not ever to be devalued as mere routine, or wasted through unamazed disdain. We are ourselves God's investment, created by a love that knows our possibilities, capax dei, "dust, but glorious dust", as Richard Holloway once wrote in a magnificent reflection.
When Death Comes
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement:
I was a bridegroom, taking the world
into my arms.
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something
particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing
and frightened
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having
visited this world.
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