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The Sun by Mary Oliver: One Big Powerful Question
I was going to include two short, powerful questions as part of my powerful questions in poems series. They were what I had in mind when I first came up with the idea. But when I was looking through sets of poems I came across one which just demanded to be included here.
Why? Because the whole poem is constructed as one simple, powerful question.
It’s “The Sun” by Mary Oliver
The Sun
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?
When I re-read the poem I thought about the Hawaiian value of Ka l? hiki ola - the value that Managing With Aloha coach Rosa Say is teaching us this month.
Ka La Hiki Ola by Rosa Say on Flickr
This is how Rosa describes the value in words to accompany this gorgeous photograph of the morning sky.
“Ka l? hiki ola
The dawning of a new day.
With every sunrise we get another shot at perfecting our lives, another fresh chance to be all we can possibly be. Another chance to say mahalo, thank you.
This was the view greeting me outside my bedroom window when I got up this morning, just after 5:30am.
Ka l? hiki ola. It is the dawning of a new day, and it’s your day.
Make it your best one ever.”
Rosa explains more of ka l? hiki ola in a VoiceThread (do check it out - the words come to life when you get to hear Rosa pronounce them properly!). In it she asks the question: what does the dawning of a new day mean to you?
Sharing this poem is part of my answer. A question in a poem that helps us greet each day anew.
This is a contribution to the reader involvement project sharing questions (from poems) that have
stuck in our minds,
lingered in our imaginations, worked their way into our hearts, changed
the way we live our lives.
If you’d like to join in you’ll find out how, what and when in this introductory post.
Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count
Photo Credit: Ka l? hiki ola by Rosa Say on Flickr
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Joanna,
thank you for sharing this poem with us. For it expresses need to simply enjoy nature, to just be a part of it, feel the soft rain on the cheeks, smell the fresh smell of roses in the morning, hear the chirping of the sparrows or the rustling of the leaves.
Joanna, this poem is so moving to me, it almost makes me appreciate poetry! (And that’s sayin’ somethin’!)
Wow, thanks for waking me up this morning!
In the winter I wake up well before dawn and fetch the paper in my driveway. Usually I’m thinking about the 10 things I need to accomplish before lunch. But every once in a while I’ll pause, look up at the crystal clear winter sky, and marvel at the stars. Sometimes there are clouds projecting a red and white glow off the light of the moon, their shapes too crisp and colors too pure to be real. Those are great days, the ones that start like that.
Joanna, what a beautiful poem. I wake up in the morning, give thanks and pad to the window often with one eye open to gaze at the sky. Each day I am thankful to be able to do that. In the evening, I take joy in watching the dance of colors in the sky as the sun begins is descent. The sky always fills me with wonder and peace. Thank you for this big powerful question.
Karen
Ah Joanna what a beautiful poem! It moves me greatly in the way that you have connected it with my value coaching and my photograph, mahalo nui loa. You (and Ms. Oliver) have captured the essence of Ka l? hiki ola so well, in that the dawning of a new day – and the magnificent certainty of it happening over and over again – is indeed a question to us which says, “I the sun, and my sister your earth, present yet another new day for the expression of your life; now what, pray tell, will you do with this one?”
The poem in total is so grand and all encompassing, and it will be one that I sit with often in my morning pages to come (in but one exercise within my own Joanna-inspired coaching with writing!) At this first reading, this is the part that leapt off the page at me, daring me to own it, doing so fearlessly:
“do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you”
There are several words, and the three Joanna-connected words that come to mind for me at this moment are Ka l? hiki ola, Mahalo, and your spirit spiller’s Aloha. Because of them, I am now “billowing.”
Ulla, indeed, Mary Oliver has a wonderful gift for reminding us of the most amazing blessing that we have, to be able to enjoy and wonder at our natural environment. Except you put that much more poetically than me.
Robert, it’s a powerful wake up call right enough. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Brad, thanks for sharing that prose poem. I can feel your wonder in those words.
Karen, I can picture you doing just that, because your words and actions reflect that sense of wonder and the peace that you gain from it. (No blushing, please)
Rosa, isn’t billowing such a wonderful word? Imagine having the idea to connect that to language. The words you teach us and share with us do billow though - with aloha, and with the wind I guess, that once helped us to navigate our way round the world.
I was tempted to include another photo of yours too - I’ll pop the link here for those who are reading the comments. It’s magnificent. A beautiful capture of the sun, floating towards the horizon, before she’s gone.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosasay/2592453176/
Thanks for your wonderful teaching this month Rosa, in words, by voice, and with your photos.
Joanna
Joanna — this is a wonderful poem, thank you for sharing! Ironically it reminds me of nothing so much as this little gem I discovered a few weeks ago, which I shared with Rosa because it, in turn, reminded me of her:
Sunbeams
~by Hafiz
Even
after
all this time
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look
what happens
with a love like that –
it lights the whole
world.
Joanna, I do think billowing is another way to consider spirit-spilling; the word is absolutely luscious, and your suggestion to connect it to our language of intention is even more compelling.
I don’t think of sunsets with Ka l? hiki ola normally, but that may be because I am not a night person by nature. Yet those who may feel they are, could certainly have their Ka l? hiki ola moments then… You helped inspire me yet again Joanna, with how I finished the progression of my Mauna Lani photo set just now! If I may have just one more link, you’ll see what I mean: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosasay/sets/72157605699480400/
Emily, I cheered out loud when I came back here and saw your comment, for when reading this earlier I was also trying to find these words from you, and Twitter was not cooperating with me! Thank you so much; this is a wonderful place for them to be, and I have now just added them to my Tumblr too. I’ll put that link with my comment name if you wish to see it. Your thoughtfulness was such a gift then, and now it will continue for me in three treasure places!
Emily, what a beautiful poem, and a perfect addition to this conversation.
Thanks for sharing it. I’ll treasure those words.
Joanna
Rosa, you can have as many links as you link! Especially to your wonderful photos, they are inspiring me, us, greatly just now
Joanna
I love the Sun poem. I work with 10 year old kids every day in my role as a teacher and this profound imagery set in simple subjects would really work. I plan to teach it.
Damien, that sounds like a good plan! I love the way she uses such simple words and one unifying image to make such a fundamental and important point.
Hope the teaching goes well.
Joanna