Is the soul solid, like iron?
Or is it tender and breakable, like
the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?
who has it, and who doesn't?
I keep looking around me.
the face of the moose is as sad
as the face of Jesus...
One question leads to another.
Does it have a shape?..
Why should I have it, and not the anteater
who loves her children?
Why should I have it, and not the camel?
Come to think of it, what about the maple trees?
...What about the grass?
As a child I would pray, not at my bedside as instructed by my parents, but out the window looking at the Hickory tree that protected my bedroom from loneliness. There I would say to God that I wished that all animals could go to heaven. If any could not, I would trade places with them. For if heaven was a place without animals, I didn't want to be there anyway. I feel much the same way about souls. I don't want one if all beings don't have one. What then is a soul? Does it fall into relativistic mush if a virus and bacteria have one as well? What is it that connects us all, that gives pause in wonder when we sense it, and stillness in grief when we don't? Oh my soul, who are you that knows the wonder and grief of life and that connects me to life in invisible strands of a web that holds us all? My soul then is all around me and is that gift that awakens me to the reality that I am a mirror of the world's soul. So much do I "know this" that when I read this poem this morning, my mind saw "I keep looking around for me," even though I know this poem fairly well. The sun is nearly up, and I'm about to for my morning walk, looking around for me, for you...
You didn't pose a question, so I will just comment. I'm with you on this heaven thing. No nature would be hell for me. As for souls, I think animals and even plants have one. Most people with pets understand that one. I like this poem. It raise some of the questions that made me know most religions were not for me. I still look around for me and you.... when I sit with nature, too.
ReplyDeleteMary Oliver's questions are deep. Is the souls solid like iron or fragile as in the beak of a owl. I thought of my soul as energy, electrifying energy, poof gone into the universe upon death. I want to believe that all animals have a soul. I think domesticated animals sense fears, anxiety, etc but that may be drawn off of the human feeling. Pet owners experience pets coming to them in times of anxiety etc.The wild animals know fear when the hunters shell is loosed. The smell of blood heightens their senses to run. Personally I do not think the soul has any specific shape, it is a power. As for vegetation....it also has some connecting vibrating energy that works in the universe and connects all living things together, emitting an energy into the universe. Rocks.....there are claims certain rocks have healing powers so again, it is all connected one to the other, truly inclusive, person, animal, vegetation, and rock. Jmo. And this poem leaves we pondering the questions it asks.
ReplyDeleteSoul = life= joy....
ReplyDelete