Softness of Morning

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” – J. B. Priestley

Softest of Mornings

“Softest of mornings, hello.
And what will you do today, I wonder,
to my heart?

And how much honey can the heart stand, I wonder,
before it must break?

This is trivial, or nothing: a snail
climbing a trellis of leaves
and the blue trumpets of its flowers.

No doubt clocks are ticking loudly
all over the world.
I don’t hear them. The snail’s pale horns
extend and wave this way and that
as her finger-body shuffles forward, leaving behind
the silvery path of her slime.

Oh, softest of mornings, how shall I break this?
How shall I move away from the snail, and the flowers?
How shall I go on, with my introspective and ambitious life?”
Mary Oliver, Long Life

To enter the day with reverence.
Carry on with curiosity.
Awakened by awe.
Shifting attention to slow, steady wonder.
Rooted in gratitude.
Anchored in possibilities.
Softest of mornings.
How shall I carry you further into the day?

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius