The Gladdest Thing is a site created and maintained by Michelle McGinnis. If you'd like to sign up to receive poems via email when they're posted here, simply subscribe. You can unsubscribe at any time.

by

Posted here
June 19, 2007


Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone—
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance—
and have you ever felt for anything

such wild love—
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed—
or have you too
turned from this world—

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

– Mary Oliver


Share this poem:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • MySpace
  • TwitThis
  • Reddit
  • email


1 Comment to “The Sun”

Leave a Reply