Grass: Some Answers You Might Find

Inspired by Mary Oliver's poem (below)

 

Bury your mistakes with me:

like true forgiveness, I am there

before you make them.

Bury, too, your hopes with me:

as promised, I have nursed the seed

and raised a plenitude, over again...

Lay down with me and shower

in the high lights of the night.

Lay down with me and breathe

the warm, yellow sea: it shall wash

away your wounds and anxious ‘seeking-afters’...

For what’s yours will always

come to you; as I am yours.

I have come with wheat and irises.

I have grafted (as your fruit trees are)

bone upon your children’s bone.

As well, like ash about the roots,

I welcome back what remains

when you return to me;

for I am yours, and there are we.

Upon my fingers slight, has stood

the balance of beasts; of flocks across

the undulating pulse of days:

and in them have I galloped.

In them have I bridged the river banks.

In them have I spiralled also, to the dust.

And to the wind go I, and flourish there...

The circled weave I am, as well,

which buoy the brooding bird.

The winter hay. The summer shade of thatch above.

Mansions must I also make

below where the low lights gleam

beneath your dignity.

So, too, the steps that first you dared:

I was there to push you up;

and when you fell I understood.

For I am yours, and there are we.

Lay down with me, and breathe.

Author's Note

A response to Mary Oliver’s poem, “Some Question You Might Ask”.
I thought of trying to write about, not if grass had a soul or not, but how could it be identified under the presumption that it does.
I added an extra challenge of writing about grass without using the word ‘green’.

Some Questions You Might Ask

Is the soul solid, like iron?
Or is it tender and breakable, like
the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?
Who has it, and who doesn’t?
I keep looking around me.
The face of the moose is as sad
as the face of Jesus.
The swan opens her white wings slowly.
In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness.
One question leads to another.
Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?
Like the eye of a hummingbird?
Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop?
Why should I have it, and not the anteater
who loves her children?
Why should I have it, and not the camel?
Come to think of it, what about the maple trees?
What about the blue iris?
What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight?
What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves?
What about the grass?

Reviews

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

very spiritual love this
I look forward to reading more of your poems
thankyou

[charlie]

Thanks to you, Julie.
All the best come Monday.

[Lyn Anderson]

One of the great things about this place, despite its various glitches and warts, is the inspiration we take from others -- be it in a comment or a poem.
This is a lovely, expansive piece. At the risk of being called a grammar task master, because I know that you, with skill and intellect, will understand that I am not here to belittle or degrade but to ask real questions, I will go ahead and say what I am going to say. My suggestions are just that, and are not meant to be absolutes -- that said, I would like to suggest the line "lay down with me" become "lay with me" or "lie down with me" -- I know many people reject the latter because lie reminds them of untruth, but those are the grammatically correct phrases. Now, you can just pull poetic license and leave it as is, but that is my suggestion nonetheless. :)

[charlie]

You make an excellent point, Lyn. And having a love of Psalm 23, I am familiar with the transitive verb. I actually wrote my first draft to the rule, but was coerced away from it after listening to a sweet line in a song "...lay me down in silence easy, to be born again" So I reckoned upon it and concluded that the valency would still hold were I to "pull poetic license". On the whole, I never thought of your alternative to simply omit the word "down", which is a suggestion I really like. Thank you for offering it. All the best. (And no: I won't be blocking you) :-)

[Lyn Anderson]

I thought not. You seem the practical rather than the squeamishly sensitive type.

[Corset]

gorgeous write Charlie, why would one be more deserving than another? why would one have and the other have not? I loved all the questions you ask what about.

[charlie]

Thank you, C, for taking time. It's good to see you once more.
Kind regards.

[Corset]

Thank you Charlie, same to yourself :D

[H.W.]

Great idea for a poem! Challenges accepted and conquered, I would say.

I particularly enjoy the peacefulness in :

"Lay down with me and shower
in the high lights of the night.
Lay down with me and breathe
the warm, yellow sea: it shall wash
away your wounds and anxious ‘seeking-afters’..."

[charlie]

Thanks, H.W. That's very nice of you to say.
All the best.