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.
Mary Oliver, poet – Ending stanzas from poem When Death Comes
“This is a beautiful statement and something that I try to live up to. I find when I go outside, which I do every day, I find myself falling over with amazement, and opening to wonder, and awe on a daily basis. Nature seems to invite us into beholding its wonder and mystery. The second part of that statement, ‘I was the bridegroom taking the world into my arms’ is such a beautiful deep reflection because it means coming from the amazement and really being betrothed to amazement. What arises out of that is love. And what arises out of love is the care-taking of the world; taking the world into my arms and protecting it. So, for me, it distills my work of going outside, opening attention, becoming amazed, falling in love, and taking care.”
Mark Coleman, teacher of nature-based
meditation practices and author of
A Field Guide to Nature Meditation:
52 Mindfulness Practices for Joy, Wisdom and Wonder
