Poems to Make You Fall in Love With Life

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Gabby

Years ago I started a playlist called “in love with life.” A year or so after that, I began a Pinterest board of the same name. Recently, “in love with life” has become a theme for my favorite poems. Here’s a few that I simply must share.

Before I get into it, I have to be honest. There is a lot of Mary Oliver on this list. Like a lot. And this is for one simple reason: she, in my opinion, is the greatest American poet to ever live. That’s all. So, if you want to fall in love with life through poetry, read this blog post. Then go read the rest of Mary Oliver’s works. I promise you will feel more connected with the earth and humanity. With all that being said, let’s jump right into it.

1. Self-Portrait by Mary Oliver

This is my second-favorite poem of all time. My first-favorite is also on this list, so read on to find it. I have placed this poem first because it was a major inspiration for both this post (after all, “in love with life” is right there) but also this blog as a whole. It showed me the importance of documenting my time while I am young and adventurous so that I can reflect on it when I am seventy and still in love with life.

I read this poem for the first time only a few months ago. As soon as I read the first stanza, I knew that this poem fit me perfectly. To start, I was twenty when I saw it for the first time! And second, I had been reminiscing on the concept of being in love with life for years. Cultivating joy is a constant goal in my life, and when my thoughts begin to wander my mind usually turns back to trying to figure out what I can do to help me be even more in love with life in the future. But what about being full of beans? What does that even mean? I can’t know for sure what Mary Oliver meant when she said full of beans, however, the moment I laid eyes on this poem I felt like I knew. Beans are courage. Beans are curiosity. Beans are a desire for more. More joy, more contentment, more connection, more of every good and meaningful thing. I want to be full of beans. I hope you do too.

Self-Portrait by Mary Oliver I wish I was twenty and in love with life and still full of beans Onward, old legs! There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side the roses are blooming and finding their labor no adversity to the spirit Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea shining like a song, like a body I want to touch though I'm not twenty and won't be again but ah! seventy. And still in love with life. And still full of beans.

2. The Sun by Mary Oliver

Here is yet another Mary Oliver poem to start your day off right. Or end it. Or for an afternoon pick-me-up. Mary Oliver is perfect for any time of day, quite frankly. I feel like this particular poem fits with the prompt so well that it would be a crime to not include it in this list. Here in Italy, one of my favorite new rituals is opening up the windows each morning to let the sun stream in. Most days I can’t help but lean out the window frame to soak in the morning for just a few minutes. Just a few minutes where I can close my eyes or look out across the Perugia cityscape and admire everything that I see or feel. I don’t know if Mary Oliver ever visited Italy, but I think she would love it here.

The Sun by Mary Oliver 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 -

3. Forget About Enlightenment by John Welwood

This semester I am taking a course called Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being. Our very first reading summarized something that I have been feeling for a while and put it into the words that I had been searching for. Happiness is not a thing we pursue. The phrase “the pursuit of happiness” leads so many people to believe that happiness is something they can sprint for and grasp in the palm of their hand if they just run fast enough. But happiness is not a thing we pursue, rather, it is a thing we build. Getting a promotion or buying a luxurious coat is not going to build happiness. You build happiness by recognizing the good things in your life, by refusing to believe the negativity that the voice in your head whispers at you as you fall asleep, by knowing that you are a competent person who can feel happiness with what you already have. So forget about the pursuit of happiness and forget about enlightenment. Everything you need to be happy and fall in love with life is already at your disposal.

Forget About Enlightenment by John Welwood Forget about enlightenment. Sit down wherever you are and listen to the wind singing in your veins. Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones. Open your heart to who you are, right now, Not who you would like to be, not the saint you are striving to become, but the being right here before you, inside you, around you. All of you is holy. You are already more and less than whatever you can know. Breathe out, touch in, let go.

4. Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Do I even need to say anything? I don’t think so.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clear blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

5. Letter by Linda Gregg

I love the simplicity of this poem. I think a big part of learning to love life is learning to love simplicity. Even in the face of an illness, the narrator of this poem is calling attention to the simple beauties of their life. I have found that structuring my internal thoughts to match the structure of this poem makes loving life (and its simplicities) so much simpler. The narrator is, of course, away from public ambition in this poem and has a much easier time slowing down, but it is not an impossible task. Even though I am all too often swept up in the hassle and rush of the day-to-day, it is nice to reflect in this way when I do get a moment of slowness. This morning I ate an apple pastry alone in the kitchen with a fork and knife. It was nice.

Letter by Linda Gregg I'm not feeling strong yet, but I am taking good care of myself. The weather is perfect. I read and walk all day and then walk to the sea I expect to swim soon. For now I am content. I am not sure what I hope for. I feel I am doing my best. It reminds me of when I was sixteen dreaming of Lorca, the gentle trees outside and the creek. Perhaps poetry replaces something in me that others receive more naturally. Perhaps my happiness proves a weakness in my life. Even my failures in poetry please me. Time is very different here. It is very good to be away from public ambition. I sweep and wash, cook and shop. Sometimes I go into town in the evening and have a pastry with custard. Sometimes I sit at a table by the harbor and drink half a beer.

6. When I am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver

“It’s simple… You too have come into the world to do this: to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”

It is hard to feel an overwhelming love of life when you are “distant from the hope of [your]self.” For Mary Oliver, she is closer to the hope when she is in nature, among the trees, and observing the earth. I know that nature is not everyone’s place where they feel more hopeful and more at peace, but I know that a lot of people underestimate the power of sitting quietly outside without any distractions. If you’ve never tried it, I beg you to.

When I am Among The Trees by Mary Oliver When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, "stay awhile." The light flows from their branches and they call again, "it's simple," they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."

7. The Orange by Wendy Cope

“The Orange” is my favorite poem of all time. I know it may be a shock since it is not a poem written by Mary Oliver, and trust me I feel just as betrayed by this preference as you may. But I simply cannot help but fall in love with life when I read this poem. I think the thing that this poem has that Mary Oliver lacks in a lot of her poetry is interaction and relationship with other people. I think that there is a lot to love about the world that is outside of other people, but I believe that the most important things to love about life come from relationships with others. Without pictures, I would eventually forget the stunning views that I have seen so far in Perugia and Assisi. But I would not forget my roommates, or the girls I travelled here with, or my hilarious Italian professor. I don’t think the narrator would forget Robert and Dave either, even if they struggled to remember if it was an apple or an orange or maybe even a grapefruit…

The Orange by Wendy Cope At lunchtime I bought a huge orange the size of it made us all laugh. I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave. They got quarters and I had a half And that orange, it made me so happy. As ordinary things often do Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park. This is peace and contentment. It's new. The rest of the day was quite easy. I did all the jobs on my list and enjoyed them and had some time over. I love you. I'm glad I exist.

8. I Can Never Be by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath is a surprising author to include on a list like this. I wanted to include this quote (and yes, I admit, it is technically a quote and not a poem, but I don’t care) because I really liked how she questioned why she was discontent and where that discontentment came from. If everyone were to analyze their unhappiness in this way, I think most people would realize that their unhappiness stems from a love of something. Or from a desire for something. Or from a loss of a good thing. These things are sad. That is the fact of the matter. However, considering these sad things from the angle of loving something or having had a good thing helps to lessen the blow or even make the sadness more bittersweet. Or, in a case like this, you can realize that although what you want may not be attainable, you can still reach towards your goal and find joy in each of the shades, tones, and variations of the experiences you do have.

I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones, and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. -Sylvia Plath

9. Spoiler by Hala Alyan

This poem masterfully uses one of my favorite metaphors for ephemerality. Sand is forever changing, shifting, and scattering. Like sand, our lives do not (and in many ways cannot) hold the same shape for very long. But this poem reminds us that the shortness of our lives does not mean that we should throw them away and treat them as nothing. Your life, no matter how short, has value. Even though you will eventually lose everything, there is value in trying your best and making your life something that you can be proud of and in love with.

Spoiler by Hala Alyan It might not happy for a long time, but one day you run your fingers through the sand again, scoop a fistful out, and pat it into a new floor. You can believe in anything so why not believe this will last? The seashell rafter like eyes in the gloaming. I'm here to tell you the tide will never stop coming in. I'm here to tell you whatever you build will be ruined, so make it beautiful.

10. What Can I Say by Mary Oliver

For the final poem on this list, I had to go back to Mary Oliver one last time. This poem carries a strong sense of finality while at the same time making it clear that this poem exists outside of time. It was started long ago, with everything that the narrator has said before, and will continue to exist for as long as the leaf sings. Loving life should include loving where you are in the present, but it should also include the past and future. Even though life carries challenges and there are times where you probably didn’t love your life very much, this poem takes the challenge to admire life beyond oneself and into the earth. The earth sings even in our most troubling times, and it will continue to sing once we have returned to it.

What Can I Say? by Mary Oliver What can I say that I have not said before? So I'll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone has a face of patience. Inside the river there is an unfinishable story and you are somewhere in it and it will never end until all ends. Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still. I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four. And the leaf is singing still.

As much as I want to keep going and give you every poem I’ve ever loved, at this point I turn the job back to you. Can you hear the song singing in the leaf? Are you full of beans? Are you glad you exist? Have you taken your busy heart to the art museum and also to the forest?

I encourage you to find more poetry that inspires you. After that, find poetry that breaks you. To get started, though, fall back in love with life and remember that whatever you build will be ruined, so make it beautiful.

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Comments

2 responses to “Poems to Make You Fall in Love With Life”

  1. Jimmy Davis Avatar
    Jimmy Davis

    So glad you are exploring Mary Oliver. Have I told you the story about when I met her? If not, it’s something for you to ask about next time we have an in-person visit.

    Here’s a Wendell Berry poem that might fit with your theme: https://www.best-poems.net/wendell-berry/sabbath-poem-i-1979.html#google_vignette

    jtd

  2. Granny Avatar
    Granny

    You brought me to tears my sweet girl.
    I love you and I’m SO jealous.! 😘