In honor of Mary Oliver’s birthday this weekend, a selection from A Thousand Mornings:

Sometimes I spend all day trying to count

the leaves on a single tree. To do this I

have to climb branch by branch and

write down the numbers in a little book.

So I suppose, from their point of view,

it’s reasonable that my friends say: what

foolishness! She’s got her head in the clouds

again.

But it’s not. Of course I have to give up, 

but by then I’m half crazy with the wonder

of it – the abundance of the leaves, the

quietness of the branches, the hopelessness

of my effort. And I am in that delicious

and important place, roaring with laughter, 

full of earth-praise.

Dear ones, let’s find some foolishness today. 

Let’s go half crazy with wonder.

Let’s roar with laughter.