A Wild and Precious Life...a New Year

Today, a friend reminded me of one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day", which closes with these lines:

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

With what better words and thoughts can we begin a new year? with the reminders of the beauty and wonder of the natural world of which we are a part (though far too often we set ourselves apart from it); reminders of the fragility of life; reminders about the importance of living that life to the fullest.

As I am a person of words, I could write many more of them, confront you with many more thoughts, but I prefer, on this brink of a new year, to permit Nature  to speak for itself, astounding us with the amazing world in which we live and with the incredible gift of life itself. And with these photos, I am wishing you a very Happy New Year, a year of decision and determination as you answer the poet's question:

  What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?