Passions of an Odd Chick

And therefore, I look upon everything

as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,

And I look upon time as no more than an idea,

And I consider eternity as another possibility,

And I think of each life as a flower, as common

as a field daisy, and as singular,

And each name a comfortable music in the mouth

tending as all music does, toward silence,

And each body a lion of courage, and something

precious to the earth.

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.

- excerpts from When Death Comes by Mary Oliver