Two Devotions from Mary Oliver*

I WAKE CLOSE TO MORNING

Why do people keep asking to see
     God's identity papers
when the darkness opening into morning
     is more than enough?
Certainly any god might turn away in disgust.
Think of Sheba approaching 
     the kingdom of Solomon.
Do you think she had to ask, 
     "Is this the place?"

Among the most memorable lines from the Psalms is the opening line of Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God." Why rattle on about who God is or isn't when daybreak is "more than enough," she says. 

She's at it again in "Whistling Swans." She knows that it's just too easy to forget that "day unto day uttereth speech." That's what she reminds us again.

WHISTLING SWANS

Do you bow your head when you pray or do you look
     up into that blue space?
Take your choice, prayers fly from all directions.
And don't worry about what language you use,
God no doubt understands them all.
Even when the swans are flying north and making
 such a ruckus of noise, God is surely listening
     and understanding. 

Rumi said, There is no proof of the soul.
But isn't the return of spring and how it
springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint?

Yes, I know, God's silence never breaks, but is

     that really a problem?

There are thousands of voices, after all.

And furthermore, don't you imagine (I just suggest it)
that the swans know about as much as we do about
     the whole business?

So, listen to them and watch them, singing as they fly.
Take from it what you can.

_____________________________ 
*From Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver.