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More poems by Mary OliverMary Oliver | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments (3) | Books by Mary OliverBooks by Mary Oliver

The Sun

Mary Oliver

 
Have you ever seen 
anything 
in your life 
more wonderful 

than the way the sun, 
every evening, 
relaxed and easy, 
floats toward the horizon 

and into the clouds or the hills, 
or the rumpled sea, 
and is gone-- 
and how it slides again 

out of the blackness, 
every morning, 
on the other side of the world, 
like a red flower 

streaming upward on its heavenly oils, 
say, on a morning in early summer, 
at its perfect imperial distance-- 
and have you ever felt for anything 
such wild love-- 
do you think there is anywhere, in any language, 
a word billowing enough 
for the pleasure 

that fills you, 
as the sun 
reaches out, 
as it warms you 

as you stand there, 
empty-handed-- 
or have you too 
turned from this world-- 

or have you too 
gone crazy 
for power, 
for things? 

Added: 2 Mar 2002 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 5:22 PM | Viewed: 35357 times

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URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/3187/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
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