Stay awake & aware

Yesterday I wrote about Mary Oliver's poetry. She has such an honest and refreshingly open way of inviting us to live fully.

At the end of her poem "When Death Comes," she says:

"When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

I suspect that's something to which we can all sign on. We don't simply want to have "visited this world." We want to live our lives to the fullest. We want to be awake to and aware of all that's going on inside and around us. We want to take notice of those with whom we spend our days—and even of those who simply pass through. We want to learn what we can from the experiences of our lives, both the good and the bad. There is so much to be learned when we pay attention. And there is so much joy to experience when we are "married to amazement."