Sleeping in the Forest

by Mary Oliver

I thought the earth

remembered me, she

took me back so tenderly, arranging

her dark skirts, her pockets

full of lichens and seeds. I slept

as never before, a stone

on the river bed, nothing

between me and the white fire of the stars

but my thoughts, and they floated

light as moths among the branches

of the perfect trees. All night

I heard the small kingdoms breathing

around me, the insects, and the birds

who do their work in the darkness. All night

I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling

with a luminous doom. By morning

I had vanished at least a dozen times

into something better.

Comments

[Susan Raihala]

Lovely. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[bridgette]

beautiful poem- I will have to copy that one down.

thanks for your kind words you left for me on my blog. I really appreciate it.

[amber]

lovely.

:)

[RD]

I read this twice, silently, and then out loud the second time. It's meant to be read out loud for the images to really form. Beautiful.