If Not, Then What?

                 To Begin With, the Sweet Grass *

by Mary Oliver

...The witchery of living

is my whole conversation

with you, my darlings.

All I can tell you is what I know.

Look and look again.

This world is not just a little thrill for the eyes.

It's more than bones.

It more than the beating of a single heart.

It's praising.

It's giving until the giving feels like receiving.

You have a life--just imagine that!

You have this day, and maybe another, and maybe still another.

...We do one thing or another;

    we stay the same, or we change.

Congratulations, if

    you have changed.

...And, if you have not been enchanted by this adventure--

    your life--

what would do for you?

* in Evidence (2009)