The Snow Geese by Mary Oliver

I am sure you are wondering what the heck a snow geese poem has to do with these colorful fall leaves.   I have underlined the words that Mary Oliver wrote that really speak to me when I see something that lights that spark of delight in me.    I saw this colorful tree this morning and for some reason the first line of the poem popped in my head.  So then I had to try to remember what poem it was!  Lucky for me, I have a book of her poems and in the index is the first line that I remembered!  

Enjoy the poem..I am sure snow geese are lovely but   just put autumn leaves in their place  in this poem.   I am so glad autumn is finding us here in the South!    It is still extremely cool in the morning and pleasantly warm during the day.   My kind of weather.   SOME PEOPLE think they need sweaters and boots but I am still in my tank top and shorts...and flip flops!  




Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last! 
What a task
to ask 
of anything, or anyone, 
yet it is ours, 
and not by the century or the year, but by the hours. 

One fall day I heard
above me, and above the sting of the wind, a sound
I did not know, and my look shot upward; it was 
a flock of snow geese, winging it
faster than the ones we usually see, 
and, being the color of snow, catching the sun 
so they were, in part at least, golden.
 I held my breath
as we do
sometimes
to stop time
when something wonderful
has touched us 
as with a match, 
which is lit, and bright, 
but does not hurt
in the common way, 
but delightfully, 
as if delight
were the most serious thing
you ever felt. 
The geese
flew on, 
I have never seen them again. 
Maybe I will, someday, somewhere.
Maybe I won't.
It doesn't matter.
What matters
is that, when I saw them, 
I saw them
as through the veil, secretly, joyfully, clearly.