"The trees have become - suddenly very happy" Mary Oliver / by Tina Thieme Brown

I hope you are enjoying this rain, as much as I am. My gardens are smiling, so happy to be soaked. Especially the smaller trees planted last summer. Flowering herbs, ferns, sedges and grasses needed it too. The ruby-throated hummingbirds paused, then flew back to my Beebalm patch, as soon as the rain stopped. July arrived with hummingbirds buzzing in the Beebalm, restorative rain, perusing my bookshelves and more creative time in and out of the studio.

Mary Oliver’s joy and connection to nature is evident in the poem, “Maples.”

Maples

The trees have become

suddenly very happy

it is the rain

it is the quick white summer rain

the trees are in motion under it

there are swinging back and forth they are tossing

the heavy blossoms of their heads

they are twisting their shoulders

even their feet chained to the ground feel good

thin and gleaming

Nobody can prove it but any fool can feel it

they are full of electricity now and the shine isn’t just pennies

it pours out from the deepest den

oh pretty trees

patient deep-planted

may you have many such days

flinging your bodies in silver circles shaking your heads

over the swamps and the pastures

rimming the fields and the long roads hurrying by.

Where do you find delight and inspiration? I find it in Mary Oliver’s poetry, which restores and inspires me; My Beebalm patch visited by glorious hummingbirds; On my rustic walks and in my art studio.