The Morning Poem

By Mary Oliver

Have you ever read a poem that was meant for one purpose, but it stuck with you long after it served its purpose? Well… allow me to introduce you to another poem that will stick with forever…

When we, the Central Springfield Community Choir (CSCC), first began rehearsing for our 2025 Carols & Communion Concert, the director made it known from the beginning that this concert was going to include more than music… it was going to include poems as well. And about a month-and-a-half before the concert, a document with all the poems to be read was sent out to the choir and we had the opportunity to audition to read a poem during the concert.

As someone who loves poems and is a firm believer that most people read poems wrong, I—in the heat of the moment—knew that I had to audition. However, a few days later, I had convinced myself that it was an unnecessary responsibility during a time where I was already overwhelmed. But there were two poems that stood out to me as I did a first read of the included poems. One of those poems was “The Morning Poem” by Mary Oliver—this poem grabbed my attention so much that when I went to record for my audition, I couldn’t remember what the other poem was that I wanted to audition for.

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So, after giving myself a pep talk multiple times, I decided that I was going to record and audition to read a poem. So, a week before the concert, I recorded and sent in my audition hoping that someone else hadn’t taken it already. Unfortunately, I was just a little too late.

But even though I wasn’t the person to read Oliver’s poem during the concert, it stuck with me. In fact, I don’t think that a day has gone by since that I haven’t thought about this poem. And the more that I think about it, I think I wasn’t meant to find this poem to merely recite it during a concert, but rather, I was meant to find it so it could anchor me during this season of my life.

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THE MORNING POEM

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches–
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead–
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging–

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted–

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

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If you rather listen to my audition tape or if you just want to hear how I read the poem, here it is…

MY SURFACE LEVEL REFLECTION

To me, this poem is about the soul’s desire to continue beyond the troubles of life because the soul knows that with a new day comes new opportunities to offset the misfortune of life. And it also knows that with a new day, there are more opportunities to enhance your happiness. And it doesn’t matter if your tried to be happy or if you ever prayed for better things; the soul knows that better things will come. Essentially, the soul doesn’t need permission to want to be here because it’s written in its nature that everything will be alright.

I wish that I could offer a deeper reflection, but honestly, I think that part of the beauty of Oliver’s “The Morning Poem” is that it’s a poem that continues to unravel itself to you the longer you sit with it. So, maybe… I’ll revisit my reflection one day and write a longer one.

But I would like to invite you share your reflection with me and other Friends of The Press…

AN INVITATION TO SIT WITH THE MEANING OF MORNING

If this is your first time reading “The Morning Poem” by Mary Oliver, I want to invite you to sit with it for a few days and come back to this post to let me know how it has internalized for you.

For those who have read this poem before, I want to invite you to share an immediate reflection below. It can be a reflection you’ve already had on this poem, or it can be a gut reflection that you come up with right here on the spot.

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